Aqua Elite

What a week so far. I haven't put my swimmers togs on once this week. Seeing the faces of those I'm normally in the pool with is quite comical. I have to say I have been extremely proud all week. From our confident swimmers, to our nervous swimmers everyone has exceeded all expectations.
All our swimmers now know they can swim on their fronts and easily switch to their backs. They know how to enter the water safely. Swim out and change direction. For our more experienced swimmers they have even mastered the art of getting safely through water without their goggles.
I am extremely proud of every single swimmer for embracing the week.
Knowing they can now enjoy the simmer armed with all the tools makes me happy.
Last day of water safety tomorrow.

Slightly different style of class this week. As summer approaches it's important all our swimmers know how to be safe around water and how to cope when caught off guard. Today's groups had the first insight today and all coped really well. It will be a fun safe week.

Another great week completed. Focus this week was on blocks of 3. Leg action, arm action then swim action. Building confidence at each stage, then putting it altogether to complete the stroke. Well done everyone our frontcrawl is improving week after week. I can see already those who are ready to progress after this term.

Everyone's swim journey is different. Some take to it easy and move through the stages with little or no issue. Some progress easy but as they move on they hit setbacks and struggle for a few weeks but gain confidence and then move up without issue. Some struggle from the start. There may be tears, push backs and reluctance. The thing to remember here is the swimmer won't remember this stage. It is much harder on the parent navigating it. I have years and years of experience and seen it all. If you stick with it these hard times pass.
A perfect example of this is from my first class this morning. Two sisters in the ones class. One happy attending each week and progressing week in, week out. The other more reluctant, cautious, nervous. However we have stuck at it. Ear infections, haven't helped but with new hat and goggles the past number of weeks the confidence has grown. From avoiding jumping in, not wanting to do parts of the class. This morning our Swimmer Aisling was just super. She listened, understood and tried her best in all aspects. At the end of the class she jumped in full of determination and swam to me. Well done Aisling I'm super proud of you.
If we fast forward to 6months I can guarantee if we ask Aisling do you remember the tears, the fear, she will just laugh. As they never do. Perseverance, patience is all that is needed. They all get their in the end.
Happy Weekend Guys.

The are in Limerick tomorrow leaving Arthur's Quay at 10am to run their marthaon. Anyone around to support them get behind them. They deserve a huge crowd, I just wish I could support them myself.

Great to be back after a short break last weekend. Hope everyone enjoyed the bank holiday weekend. Our Friday and Saturday more advanced swimmers have been working on breaststroke this week. Frog legs as it's better known as. Timing and patience is key. Everyone worked really hard so thank you.
Some great feedback from our younger swimmers today. When reminding Rodhan that he must kick his legs, he informed "but I was so good he was at blowing my bubbles." Zach also informed how good he's getting at swimming. I just love their correct feedback. As they both are improving week in and week out. As are all our swimmers.
Finally happy Birthday to Abby for tomorrow. Enjoy your special day.
Back to the pool Monday.

A big thank you to Holly for this fabulous picture she gave me on Friday. Showing her love of swimming, makes me so happy. This week we worked hard on our backstroke. A real love or hate stroke. Two swimmers stick out. Both moved up a level this term where I'm no longer in the water with them. Both had an adverse reaction to backstroke. Neither liked it and there were tears, push backs and heels dug in. However I knew they would come good and low and behold I had that full circle moment this week watching them flourish and enjoy swimming the backstroke happily and with ease. Patience is always the keys with swimming. Yes their may be tears, reluctance, unwillingness but I always see the small wins, and the bigger picture. Consistency is key. I actually said to one of these swimmers this week, " do you remember when you hated backstroke and they struggled their shoulders. Kids never remember.
So well done Fia and Elise two examples of how fears can be overcome.
Gentle reminder no swimming on Friday 1st or Saturday 2nd this week. A welcome beak for the bank holiday weekend.

Happy Easter to all my Aqua Elite families. Hope you all have a lovely weekend. Enjoy the week off next week. See you all back on April 13th 🐣🐣🐣🐣

Meet Robert the Rabbit. Thank you Ryan for gifting me him yesterday. I asked Ryan to name him for me. Great start to the Term. Welcome to all our new swimmers. A big well done to all those who moved up a level. We had swimmers who no longer require me in the water and new lane swimmers. They all did amazing. I love watching our new lane swimmers, especially those who came to me as beginners. Its a full circle moment for me. We had a few birthdays this week also. Happy Birthday to twins Mary and Sean, Caleb and Rian. Hope you all had fun celebrating. There is swimming again this week. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

So today we completed our final day of the Term. That was a very fast 10 weeks. I can't quite believe Easter is around the corner. Great to see almost a full house today.
Time for our Swimmer of the Term. Today's Swimmer had a hard time moving up a level. She went from having me in the water to not. She lost her confidence and struggled knowing she was well able but just lacked confidence in her own ability. After a few weeks and small encouragement she came into her own and began to enjoy the lessons again. She has come on leaps and bounds. Her frontcrawl has really improved and I see an ease in her stroke. She has added breaststroke also. What was lovely today was she told me backstroke is her favourite as you get to push off the wall and kick your legs. Well done Abby our Swimmer of the Term, very well deserved and thank you for the big hug you gave me when you heard the news 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

Another busy day in the pool. It's been a funny week with a bank holiday in the middle. I can't believe it's Saturday already tomorrow. Well done to our Swimmer of the Term today. This Swimmer has worked very hard. He's become very confident in all his strokes. Each week I see him getting stronger. He most certainly tries his best each week, which is all you can ask for. Lovely today seeing him swimming to the steps, another milestone. Well done Odhran, keep up the good work.