Advanced Swimming Lessons Blog

Swimming Tools & Training Skills

We hope you are having a FINStastic day! You have been in the Advanced Swim and Safety lessons for weeks now and we hope your child is having a blast. We get questions all the time about equipment and tools needed for swim lessons. Today we are here to answer all of your questions about goggles, flippers and swim caps, oh my!

Goggles:

At this stage of swim lessons, most, if not all students will want to use goggles. Prolonged water exposure, whether in a pool or natural body of water, can irritate the eyes. Students in these levels will be swimming longer distances, so most will prefer goggles. The ability to keep their eyes open underwater and not have to worry about splashes coming their way will also free up a lot of distractions for your child.  If your child does prefer to wear goggles, we do ask that they have their own pair. FINS has a limited number of pairs available to borrow for the occasional use by children who forget to bring their own. Having their own good pair of goggles helps the instructor to focus the entire class time on learning to swim, not adjusting goggle straps every time a different child wears them. Your child will also be familiarized with their own pair and will be able to keep the straps set to fit them the way they prefer. How do we define a “good pair” of goggles? First and foremost is comfort. The child must like the way they feel. Secondly, you must make sure the part around the eye seals tightly on the face. If the goggles are too big (or too small) water will constantly leak in making the goggles essentially useless. FINS sells goggles we LOVE and work well for many swimmers. In addition, there are a few local swim shops who sell other brands if you would like to explore further. Buying goggles at a big box store may not be the best plan. We tend to notice more leaking and quicker breaking of those goggles. A good pair purchased a FINS or a local swim shop will only cost a few more dollars, but will be worth it’s weight in gold!

Swim Caps:

We get a lot of questions about swim caps. While yes, it is true that all professional swimmers use swim caps, FINS does not require them. At this point it is a personal preference. Keep in mind that  if your child does have long hair, it will need to be either tied back or in a swim cap during lessons.This helps avoid hair getting into the eyes,over the face and/or tangled in arms while practicing their swimming skills. FYI, swim caps will not keep the hair completely dry, or all water out of the ears. While the hair will not get quite as wet wearing a swim cap, it does not completely protect the hair from getting wet. Swim caps are not designed for keeping water out of a swimmer’s ears either.

Flippers/fins:

We normally refer to them as fins, but since our name is FINS we also call them flippers to avoid confusion. They are one and the same! Students will begin using flippers/fins in our Bronze FINS level and each student will need to bring their own pair to each lesson. While we do have a few pairs for students to borrow if they forget their own, we do not have enough for every student. Flippers/fins in these levels are used to help students elongate their kicks, encourage proper body positioning, balance, swim endurance and to build foot, ankle and leg strength. The use of fins/flippers activates different muscles which will help build stronger swimmers! Not to mention that the kids find them very fun as they swim faster in them!

Be on the lookout next week for our final email in this series. We will talk about ways you can help further advance your child’s swim skills by practicing at home, and about the available options for swim team if your child has expressed interest!

Advanced Swim Lessons for Kids

Welcome to our final post in our ‘Welcome to FINS Advanced Swim and Safety’ series. We hope that you have found these emails informative and helpful. Don’t forget, we love your feedback! Our goal at FINS is to keep parents informed about what their child is learning in class and to provide various helpful tips. As always, ALL FINS team members are happy to help answer questions and address concerns as you have them.

Consistency is the key to mastery. The more consistently they practice the skills they are learning in class, the quicker they will master them. We always recommend extra swim time, especially if your child has access to a pool. Please remember, while your child is becoming a stronger swimmer, they still must be under adult supervision near a body of water. Safety is our top priority at FINS. We are teaching skills that help your child to become a safer swimmer, but swim lessons never replace the need for adult supervision. Lessons are just another layer in drowning prevention. 

As your child progresses through our Advanced Swim and Safety levels, we hope they love swimming as much as we do! If your child has expressed interest in joining a swim team, we think it is a great idea! We highly recommend starting with your neighborhood summer league team. Summer league teams practice from late April through mid-June. Practices will be held at your neighborhood pool and there will be 6 weekend swim meets (and a few more if your child qualifies). Joining the swim team in the neighborhood is a wonderful social opportunity for you and your child. Many friends from school will be on the team with them! If your neighborhood does not have a swim team, ask a schoolmate or 2 where they swim. There are several teams in the area with open enrollment, so they can swim with their friends on a local area team. If they love summer league, your child can look into swimming year-round on a USA swim team.

Advanced Swim Parent Portal

We hope this email finds you well and that our weekly emails are answering all of your questions while also teaching you about things you didn’t even know to ask about! Our goal is to have every parent at FINS feeling very informed about what their child is learning, why it is important and how they can expect to see everything play out during swim lessons. 

Today’s blog post is going to divert from what is happening in the classes to show you how you can use FINS Parent Portal online to check on your child’s skill progression, make updates to your account, email your child’s instructor, see class openings and more!

Instead of writing a long post about all of the things you can do, here is a 2 minute YouTube video all about the FINS Parent Portal.

If you attempt to log in and do not know which email address we have on file, please give us a call or stop by the front desk and we are happy to help! Additionally, we can always do a quick password reset for you if needed. Tablets are available at our facility if you would like to try the portal while you are here, we’re happy to help!

Thanks for watching, reading, and learning! We hope each week you find the information helpful and that you are learning something new. Be on the lookout for an email next week where we talk about the tools & supplies needed in swim class and what each is used for.

What to Expect in Advanced Swim Lessons

Congratulations! You’re rolling right along in our Advanced Swim and Safety program. We hope swimming is an activity that they (and you) look forward to each week. Each lesson they are not only mastering new skills toward advanced water safety (as we discussed last week), but they are also learning advanced swim skills. The cool thing about swim lessons is that it is an activity they can enjoy for the rest of their life. As your child grows, knowledge of water safety and swim skills can be used at the neighborhood pool, on family vacations, birthday pool parties or even to get involved in the sport of swimming by joining a swim team (which we will talk about in a few weeks)!

This week, we are going to discuss swim progression and learn just how far (distance wise) your child will be able to swim by the time they complete our Advanced Swim and Safety levels.

Below, you will find swim progression/distances listed by level:

White FINS:

By the time students graduate from our White FINS level, they will be able to swim 15 feet while rolling to their back to get air, and will be able to perform the elementary backstroke (tickle-airplane-soldier) for 15 feet.

Blue FINS:

By the time students graduate from our Blue FINS level, they will be able to swim 20 feet with controlled arms and rollover to get a breath. In addition, they will be able to swim on their back using a backstroke kick for 20 feet.

Bronze FINS:

By the time students graduate from our Bronze FINS level they will be able to swim 30 feet with freestyle arms and a proper flutter kick, using a timed rollover to get a quick breath. In addition, they will be able to swim using their backstroke kick for 20 feet with one arm above their head for body position balance and to safely approach the wall.

Silver FINS:

By the time students graduate from our Silver FINS level, they will be able to swim fluid freestyle with side breathing for 40 feet, and fluid backstroke for 40 feet with safe wall approach.

Gold FINS:

By the time students graduate from our Gold FINS level, they will be able to swim freestyle and backstroke a full lap, and will begin perfecting swimming backstroke in a straight line.

Thanks for reading and learning! We hope each week you find the provided information helpful and that you are learning something new. Be on the lookout for an email next week where we will tell you about the FINS Parent Portal and all the cool things you can do, like check on your child’s skill progression, make updates to your account, see available classes and more!

Advanced Water Safety & Self-Rescue Skills

By now, hopefully, you have had the chance to bring your child to The Advanced Swim and Safety level classes at least once and maybe even twice. We certainly hope they are having a great time and love coming back each week! We ALWAYS welcome feedback if there is anything you think would be helpful for us to know about your child, or even ways we can make the experience simpler or more pleasant for you as the parent!

Last week, we touched on the importance of continuing to teach water safety in our advanced swim and safety levels. This week, we want to dive deeper into FINS main focus: : water safety, and more specifically what that looks like in our Advanced Swim and Safety levels. You now know, as we do, that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4, and the second leading cause in children ages 5-14. FINS is on a mission to change those statistics and by committing your child in swim lessons, so are you! Each skill learned in the Advanced Swim and Safety program is designed to coincide with safety skills simultaneously. The safety will progress as the skills do, becoming second nature or instinct for your child in/around the water.

Below you will find safety skills listed by level:

White FINS:

Students enrolled in our White FINS program will focus on many safety skills including but not limited to: safety jumps from the side of the pool, getting from a vertical position to a back float, forward movement swimming with multiple rolls to float, and elementary backstroke!

• Safety Jumps (sometimes called Monkey Toes) – before exiting White FINS, students will be able to safely and independently jump from the side of the pool, return to the wall and climb out, all without goggles. This skill is an advanced form of the ‘fall and get to the wall’ (or ‘Humpty Dumpty’) that students learned in our Intro to Swim and Safety or Baby programs.
• Vertical Position to a Back Float – This is an important skill to master. In addition to being able to roll over from a prone swimming position, it’s important for students to learn how to get their bodies from a vertical position to a comfortable back float. This is another safety skill that can be a life-saving measure if they are unable to safely swim back to a wall, or if they need rest while getting to a wall.
• Multiple Roll to Float – As swim distance increases, we remind students that when they get tired or need air they can simply roll to their back and rest as long as needed while making their way safely to a wall. Along with rest, we teach them that this is an opportunity to call for help if needed.
• Elementary Backstroke – Now that your child has mastered the back float, our instructors will teach them the elementary backstroke, aka ‘tickle-airplane-soldier,’ to be able to move through the water on their back.

Blue FINS:

Students enrolled in our Blue FINS program will focus on safety skills, including but not limited to: safety jumps with a back float, increased distance for multiple rollovers and getting from a vertical position to a back float.

• Safety Jumps – Before exiting Blue FINS, students will be able to safely and independently jump from the side of the pool, roll to a back float, roll back and swim to the wall without goggles. 
• Vertical Position to a Back Float – In addition to being able to roll over from a prone swimming position, students will continue to build strength to get their bodies from a vertical position to a comfortable back float. This is another safety skill that can be a life-saving measure if they are unable to safely swim back to a wall  or if they need rest while getting to a wall.
• Multiple Roll to Float – As swim distance continues to increase, we remind students when they get tired or need air, they can simply roll to their back and rest while making their way safely to a wall. Along with rest, we teach them that this is an opportunity to call for help if needed.
• Kicks on back-now that they know how to move through the water on their back with elementary backstroke, we build on that by teaching them how to kick while on their back. In a self-rescue event, this will hopefully be another tool to help get them safely to the wall even quicker.

Bronze FINS:

Students in our Bronze FINS program will focus on safety skills, including but not limited to: a one-arm lead backstroke and strengthening roll to float with consecutive timed rollovers.

• One Arm Lead Backstroke – As students continue to learn the backstroke, we introduce the one arm lead so that their hand touches the wall first and not their head.
• Consecutive Timed Rollover – In preparation for learning side-breath, students can now use their roll to back float skills to take a quick breath between strokes and then roll back over and continue swimming.

Silver FINS:

Students enrolled in our Silver FINS classes will focus on safety skills involving the backstroke.

• Backstroke count – Like the one arm lead in Bronze FINS, the backstroke count is used to make sure a student safely approaches the wall. Students are taught to count the number of strokes it takes them from the flags to the wall. Once they know this number, they begin their count from the flags. Upon reaching their stroke count, they use a one-arm lead into the wall to prevent hitting their head.

Gold FINS:

Students enrolled in our Gold FINS classes will increase their endurance and learn how to tread water for safety.

• Treading Water – In addition to mastering swimming a full lap of the pool, students in the Gold FINS classes will learn  to tread water for 30 seconds. This will allow them to keep their head above water in areas where they cannot touch the bottom. Treading water can be used to  take a rest and get air or to call for help.

Be on the lookout for our email next week where we discuss swim progression in our Advanced Swim and Safety classes.

Advanced Swim & Safety Lessons: 1-on-1 & Group

We are thrilled that you have chosen FINS as your swim school! FINS is a locally owned, family-run business with a big passion for teaching water safety and developing a love for swimming. By giving the gift of swim lessons to your child, you have taken an amazing step forward joining us  in the fight against the drowning statistics. Did you know that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4 and the 2nd leading cause in children ages 5-14? Drowning is preventable. 

FINS has been around for over 20 years. Throughout that time, we have taught thousands of babies to learn to swim. Our goals remain the same while our methods vary over time since we are constantly finding ways to advance our techniques while providing a safe and fun environment for you and your little one.

Read on and learn a bit more about what you and your child have to look forward to while swimming with FINS!

SAFETY-SWIM ENDURANCE-FUN!

These are the foundational elements of our unique  Advanced Swim and Safety program. So let’s talk a little more about those words and how we use them in our White FINS, Blue FINS, Bronze FINS, Silver FINS, and Gold FINS classes!

SAFETY-

We mentioned at the beginning of this email that drowning is the LEADING cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4, and the 2nd leading cause in children ages 5-14. FINS is on a mission to reduce and even eliminate that statistic! Throughout their lessons we will practice many advanced safety techniques and continue to build on; swim endurance, stroke technique, various self-rescue skills and learning and memorizing safety rules!

SWIM ENDURANCE-

Learning self-rescue techniques are very important for young kids in case they fall in the water near a wall or ledge. As kids get older, however, their swimming skills become more advanced and they become more and more brave which means they may play in the pool for hours with friends. Possibly even going out on boats into open waters at a lake or ocean. Swimming uses muscles throughout your entire body AND requires unique breathing techniques (since we aren’t fish and we can’t breathe underwater). These are the things we mean when we say ‘swim endurance.’ During our Advanced Swim and Safety levels students will continue to build on their swim endurance until they can easily swim the length of a pool, independently and with confidence. In addition, we will teach them how to tread water for those times when they can’t quite touch the bottom!

FUN-

Did you know that FINS in an acronym for Fun IN Swimming? Our passion is for swimming AND for kids.  We want all kiddos to leave each lesson talking about how much fun they have had! We find creative ways to incorporate fun into all of our swim levels and in our facility. We know kids learn best when they are having fun and we hope they want to come back week after week. So expect some fun to happen each time you come to FINS!

Be on the lookout next week for an email where we dive in deeper about FINS water safety techniques that students will be learning in our Advanced Swim and Safety Program!