Summer Swim Program

Summer is right around the corner and many will be heading to the lake or your local pool

to cool off. You probably know that your kids need to learn to swim. Drowning is the nation’s second leading cause of accidental death for children under 14. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in summer 2012 there were 137 child drowning deaths in the United States. Enrollment in swim lessons in the best thing parents can do to prevent drowning. In 2009, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that children enrolled in formal swimming lessons had an 88% reduced risk of drowning.

Despite those statistics, an estimated 37% of adult Americans cannot swim, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Learning to swim means more than just being able to doggy paddle across the pool and float around on your back a few seconds.

If your kids had some swim lessons when they were little and are generally confident in the water, why continue with swimming into the ‘tween and teen years? There are plenty of reasons to get AND keep your child involved in swimming. Here are our top five.

1. Swim lessons reduce the risk of drowning.You read the stats above, right? This is serious stuff and as your child gets older, they are more likely to be around water when you might not be present (say on a trip to the beach with friends). Swimming in essential life skill and you want to be confident that your child has mastered it.

2. Swimming builds whole body strength.A swimming workout is a great total body workout, strengthening everything from the core to the legs to the arms. In swimming, a whole lot of muscles are working together as your kids are pushing, pulling and kicking their way through the water. Swimming is a full-body workout. It's simultaneously works muscles from triceps and biceps to abdominals to hamstrings and everything in between. Wow!

3. Swimming helps kids do better in school.You heard right: your kids’ time in the pool translates to higher marks at school. Swimming has been scientifically linked to an better academic performance. Studies have found that children who swam during their developmental years achieved several physical and mental milestones faster than their non-swimming counterparts. Researchers found that the type of instruction and sensory learning kids are exposed to early on in swimming lessons translates almost seamlessly into the type of learning they’ll do in the classroom.

4. Kids who swim get the benefits of participating in an individual AND team sport.This is one aspect of swimming that really makes it unique. Swimmers compete individually AND as a team to kids develop the skills needed to excel in a team environment.

5. Swimming is something they can do at any age!Swimming is for everyone, both young and old. This activity is something that lasts a lifetime -- and you can always improve at it! Expose your child to swimming now and they will have a recreational, aerobic activity that they can continue to enjoy throughout the rest of their lives! What a gift!

The Claremore Rec Center offers a Summer Swim Program. Our unique six step program learn to swim program will have anyone feeling confident & safe in the water!

Learn-to-Swim

The six learn-to-swim levels and the objectives for each level include:

1. Introduction to Water Skills: helps students feel comfortable in the water and to enjoy the water safely.

2. Fundamental Aquatic Skills: gives students success with fundamental skills.

3. Stroke Development: builds on the skills in Level 2 by providing additional guided practice. 

4. Stroke Improvement: develops confidence in the strokes learned and to improve other aquatic skills.

5. Stroke Refinement: provides further coordination and refinement of strokes.

6. Swimming and Skill Proficiency: refines the strokes so students swim them with ease, efficiency, power and smoothness over greater distances. Level 6 is designed with "menu" options. Each of these options focuses on preparing students to participate in more advanced courses, such as Water Safety Instructor and Lifeguard Training. These options include:

·  Personal Water Safety

·  Fundamentals of Diving

·  Fitness Swimming

Classes Offered: 
Parent and Child AquaticsChildren 6 months to 3 years of age and their parents participate in the guided practice sessions that help children learn elementary skills.Watch for more information on our Summer Swim Program in May!

Preschool Program

Four and Five year olds learn basic water skills without parent in the water with them. Safety Skills are stressed and classes provide guided independent learning.

Learn-to-Swim
Beginning at  5 years old, children can participate in five levels of stroke development and water safety instruction.  Advanced classes teach competitive swimming skills and basic lifeguard knowledge.

Watch for more information on our Summer Swim Program in May!

a portion reprinted from chicagonow.com