I love the way we teach survival swimming here at the Gold Medal Swim School. We use a three-part approach which involves Sit, Listen, and Wait, the Turnaround Sequence, and our Core Values.
Our approach always begins with Sit, Listen, and Wait. Every time a child goes near a pool, they should Sit, Listen, and Wait to be invited in by an adult. Please help us, and help your child, by having your child practice this simple yet life-saving skill over and over without exception. If your child knows to not enter the pool without supervision and permission from an adult, they will be much safer around water.
The next layer of our survival swimming approach is the Turnaround Sequence. Developmentally, it works really well for small children. We teach this as a simple, conditioned response by teaching students that if they do fall into the pool, they can simply turnaround and get back to the wall.
The last piece to our survival sequence is our Core Values, which we utilize every time your child enters the pool area and swims with our amazing teachers. Our CORE VALUES are Safety, Relaxation, Body Position, Air Regulation, and Propulsion. Focusing on these Core Values is how we help amazing children become amazing swimmers.
The Core Values are used throughout each lesson at the Gold Medal and are truly the foundation of all our sequences and skills. For example, everything we teach is built upon the Core Value of Relaxation and it is easily one of the main reasons why Gold Medal swimmers are so successful. Relaxation allows your child to learn and swim with less stress yet more confidence, which gives them the ability to THINK of what to do while in the midst of a survival situation. Swimmers at Gold Medal feel supported and confident in their own abilities around the pool and have low levels of anxiety regarding it.
People often ask me, “Why do you need these Core Values to do these sequences better?” The answer is simple: years and years of experience in and around the pool, from teaching babies to Olympic champions, and every age and skill level between.
The Core Values of Safety, Relaxation, Body Position, Air Regulation, and Propulsion are key components to helping your child not only become safer around the pool, but become a swimmer for life.
Yours in Swimming,
Mike Walker
