Ready to swim ... below are a few tips before you get to the pool deck !
The time a new swimmer has with their instructor is limited and should be focused primarily on acquiring new aquatics skills. The following are few suggestions to help maximize the results of our instruction time, increase the new swimmers comfort in the water, as well as reinforce swimming skills while not at the pool!
1 ) Swim goggles are a swimmer's best friend for a number of reasons.
Other than the most basic reason for wearing goggles, improved vision underwater. Goggles decreases eye irritation and improves comfort which, in turn enhances the learning experience. The effectiveness of a lesson with well fitting goggles is infinitely better than one without!
The new freedom from irritation and the ability to see encourages the new swimmer to keep their face submerged. Being comfortable in having ones face submerged is a fundamental requirement to floating and developing a streamlined body position for swimming strokes on one's stomach. Elimination of eye discomfort also opens a new world for the swimmer to see and explore underwater - encouraging underwater play while increasing comfortably in the water.
Unfortunately, the designs and complexity of adjustment mechanisms of some goggles negate any benefit they might have provided - as once they become filled with water or the setting slips they become a distraction and will soon become a fixture laying on deck or forgotten.
Goggles are a critical investment in a swimmers aquatics education. Buy goggles that are easy for the swimmer to take on and off and have them fitted PRIOR to class time. A swimmer should practice placing them on and off at home in the shower or bath.
2) Bathing Caps eliminate distraction. As a swimming instructor, one does everything one can to eliminate distractions and focus the new swimmers attention on the new movements necessary to swim efficiently. Long hair is problematic if left free flowing as it obstructs vision, interferes with breathing and affects the heads movement. The new swimmer should be having their hair covered prior to the beginning of instruction time. Different caps work better than other - so the trials and errors need to be worked out and then practiced.
3) A word about water in the ears. I've been swimming for …. Hmmm, let's just say a large number of years and have never had an ear infection. I use a solution of one part alchol to one part hydrogen peroxide in my ears at the end of each swim session. When the alcholevaporates, so does the water. Some folks add a touch of vinegar.This is not for folks with tubes in their ears or ruptured esar drums! I'm not a doctor, but it works for me!
4) Read ! Checkout the homework pages for some ideas! Checkwebsites in Aquatic Resources like; http://swimming.about.com