Curriculum Update | August 2018

We wanted to take this opportunity to update you on some exciting news. We have made some changes to our curriculum, skills, and posters. Over the last year, we have spent a great deal of time examining what we teach and how we teach it. In July, the department leaders along with president of the swim school finalized these changes. We want to briefly explain some of the changes we made so everyone is on the same page as we begin the school year. Many of the changes dealt with verbiage, and the way we explain skills to our students along with the addition and deletion of some skills. Here is a brief overview of the changes.

LITTLE JUNIOR | KINDER JUNIOR | BEGINNER

1. We clarified safety circle as being done in the sitting position with assistance from the teacher.
2. We removed leapfrog to the wall with assistance. We did this for safety reasons. We did not want a child to hit the step or the wall.
3. The major change we made in these groups deals with breath control. We originally had humming and breath control as two separate skills. We found that to be redundant. The skill for breath control in these levels is humming. To master a skill a student must now be able to place their eyes and face in the water and hum for a count of 5 seconds.

ADVANCED JUNIOR | INTERMEDIATE

1. A student now must be able to roll over from their stomach to their back and from their back to their stomach independently. In the past, this skill was considered completed if they could do it with assistance. This change was made because in the next levels the rollover progression is such a big part of the curriculum that we felt it was advantageous to already for the students to already be able to rollover.
2. We also added a new skill. It is the Polar Bear Glide. A student must be able to roll to their back and kick a little bit. This also is a skill aimed to help out at the next levels when working with the rollover progression.

ELITE JUNIOR | INTERMEDIATE II

1. We originally had streamline on front and streamline on back. We changed this to streamline kick on front and back. Most of the instructors were having the students do this already, so this was a logical change to make.
2. The Polar Barron Float is now the Polar Bear Float.
3. The big change in these levels deals with breath control. A student must have complete command of side breathing in freestyle to have this skill considered mastered. They must be completely comfortable breathing to the side with the opposite ear remaining in the water and no lifting of the head forward what so ever. This takes time. The reason we feel this is so important to accomplish here is in the next levels, butterfly and breaststroke are introduced and take a lot of time to learn. We will work on refining freestyle but do not want to be teaching the kids how to breath.

ELITE JUNIOR II | ADVANCED

1. We changed the wording of the freestyle breathing skill. It reads freestyle with alternate side breathing (bi-lateral breathing). They must now be comfortable breathing to both sides. This is crucial for balancing out one’s stroke.
2. We also added forward and backward streamline push offs. Getting of the wall in the correct swimming position is crucial.
3. We removed sit dives.

IN CONCLUSION

We hope this helps explain the changes we made to our curriculum and skills sheet. We are always striving to improve what we teach and how we teach it. Thanks for your understanding. If you have any specific questions, please ask. Thanks and we look forward to your continued support.

See you at the pool!