Swim Coach Kelci

Being able to rotate, get back to the wall and exit the water (from climbing out at the wall or the steps/ladder) should be one of the first safety skills your child learns. It’s the quickest way they can independently get out of the water without having to wait for an adult to get them first if they were to just jump or fall into the pool.

(Of course get your child to monkey along the wall to the steps, we just stopped before this because it was time to open a house 😆)

Make sure you teach your child this skill and DO NOT keep catching them without showing them how or where they need to go to stay safe, because one day, that jump or fall may happen and you might not be there to catch them! 💙

Quit competitive swimming at 14… but yup still got it 😜💁🏻‍♀️

Children don’t always need more instructions… sometimes they need a better example. 🦋

When I’m teaching a new skill, I could give a child 10 different things to think about…

OR…

I can simply show them.

Because swimming is movement. And sometimes trying to explain a movement using only words becomes more complex and gives a child even more things to think about.

A demonstration gives them something they can actually see: the rhythm, the timing, the shape and the flow of the movement.

I’m not expecting a child to copy my butterfly perfectly (and I’m definitely not saying mine is perfect either!). I’m giving them a moving picture of what we’re trying to create, then helping them build their own version of it.

One of the most underrated tools in a swim teacher’s toolbox: demonstration. 💙