Building on a Strong Swim Foundation – Steve Wallen Swim School in El Dorado Hills and Roseville
By learning to swim using tried and true instructional methods, such as those taught with excitement and expertise at Steve Wallen Swim School, your child will be eager to take on their next aquatic challenge. Learning to swim requires consistent and regular lessons; learning to swim with us means continuous evaluation and development as well as a nurturing learning environment.
Now that your child has mastered arm circles, it’s time to introduce the next skill! As always, your child’s learning and success is our goal, and we are proud to offer small class sizes, which means more individualized attention. In addition, we are thrilled to offer a variety of learning options to meet your busy life, including private, semi-private, and small group lessons.
You have watched your child learn to move their arms through the water, pulling themselves forward with each big circle. Of course, their little faces have been in the water while tracing these circles, busily blowing giant bubbles. Now it’s time to take a breath, and keep swimming! Know that your child’s safety and learning is our first priority, and our positive attitude and integrity ensures your child’s success.
“All children and adults should learn to swim…”
Taking a breath in while swimming is a notoriously tricky skill, so time and patience are needed to get this one down pat. However, every new swim skill taught is built on previous skills, and will lead to your child being a stronger swimmer and safer in and around the water.
Remember, the American Association of Pediatrics strongly recommends that “All children and adults should learn to swim” as a layer of protection against drowning.
When taking a breath in, the body is positioned on its side while remaining entirely horizontal to the pool bottom. Ideally, the body remains long and streamlined; legs are as long as they can be, and the head remains in the water as well. Remember, only the nose and mouth are needed to take in that breath, so the side of the head and ear remain in the water.
Learn to swim, learn to be water safe…programs for the entire family!
A standard error made during the side breath skill is that the body wants to ‘bunch up’. It seems like a natural reaction; when getting in and out of the side-lying position, the body seems to want to bend at the hips and torso. As a result, you may observe your child curling into a bit of a ball when moving into their side breath position.
Get Started With a Highly Trained Swim Instructor!
To overcome this bunching habit, your child will be physically positioned by their instructor so that they can learn the correct position. Next, their highly trained instructor will aid in their movement from swimming on their front to taking a breath in on their side.
Students will practice just swimming on their side, holding this challenging position. The focus will be to lengthen the body, maintain long, strong limbs, and stay just at the water’s surface. Your child has already learned to flutter kick, and this powerful leg action will be used continuously throughout both their side swim and their arm circle swim.
An optimal freestyle stroke requires the ability to move from a ‘face-down and blowing bubbles’ position to taking a breath without interruption. The stroke will be seamless, with constant propulsion while breathing in and out effortlessly. Once your child can move from the arm circle position to the breath position, they will begin mastering the sequence.
Further, they will be introduced to the optimal freestyle breathing sequence known as ‘bilateral breathing’. Bilateral breathing simply means that one breath is taken every three-arm circles; because three is an odd number, your child will learn to take a breath in from both sides of their bodies!
Our Milestone Ribbon program recognizes this newest skill with a lavender ribbon. The lavender ribbon marks your child’s ability to complete three complete cycles of three-arm circles and one breath. Once this movement pattern comes with ease, your child will be challenged with swimming longer distances and fine-tuning the stroke’s mechanics!
Register For Swim Lessons at Wallen Swim School Today!
We are always ready and thrilled to answer any of your questions about how you and your family can learn to swim and become water safe. Visit us at either of our two state-of-the-art facilities in El Dorado Hills and the other in Roseville; both offer award-winning swim instruction!
