Competitive Swim Lessons for Kids

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 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 of children ages 5-14? Drowning is preventable. Additionally, swimming is a great team sport for your child that helps teach discipline, social skills and keeps them active! 

FINS has been around for over 20 years. Throughout that time, we have taught thousands of children (and adults) to learn to swim. Many of these students have gone on to be quite successful with various swim teams. 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 child.

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

SAFETY-ADVANCED SWIM STROKES-SWIM ENDURANCE-FUN!

These are the foundational elements of our unique Intro to Competitive Swim program.  This program includes levels: Dolphin FINS, Shark FINS and Fast Fins. So let’s talk a little more about those words and how we use them in these 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 and various self-rescue skills. In addition, students will continue to learn and memorize safety rules that apply to older children! Just because a child is a good or strong swimmer, does not mean they are drown-proof! It is important to continually instill water safety reminders at all ages (even adults)!

• ADVANCED SWIM STROKES – In these levels, children will continue to strengthen their freestyle, backstroke and water treading skills. They will also learn the breaststroke and butterfly. Many children in these levels go on to register for a swim team, which we will talk more about later!. In the coming weeks we will talk about what that can look like for your family and what options are available if your child expresses interest.

• SWIM ENDURANCE – Self-rescue techniques are very important for kids to learn 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.They might even be venturing out into boat activities out in open water 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 Intro to Competitive Swim levels, students will continue to build on their swim endurance until they can easily swim multiple lengths 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. 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 students will be learning in our Intro to Competitive Swim program!