You may have noticed a week ago that kids in Elite Junior II, Advanced, and both team groups were swimming a lot to start their lesson and/or practice. We were doing timed swims with these groups. We wanted to take this opportunity to explain why this is such an important skill and why we believe in this concept.

The Elite Junior II kids swam between 3 – 5 minutes depending on the class ability. Advanced groups swam 5 minutes. The Purple team went 9 minutes, and the Blue team went 12 minutes. We do this for a couple of reasons.

1. Most of the kids have some doubt and many are frankly scared they cannot complete this skill. When they do so they feel good about what they have accomplished and it gives them a confidence boost.
2. We do this at the team level to help build aerobic capacity and we will continue to increase the time with more practice throughout the year.
3. If a child knows they can swim for a given period, they should be able to swim out of any dangerous situation they may find themselves in.

We told the kids the goal was to complete the time and form was not important. The swimming got a little ragged at points, but the important thing is seeing the smile of satisfaction at the conclusion of the swims. Congratulations to all of you who completed your timed swim!