All About Recreational Swimming

[Swimtutor]

hellokittyspore:

Swimtutor:

[quote=\"Twinklesss\"]My 6yr old son after learning for 5mths, still don't really know how to breath without the board and need the swimming board.


is this normal? i was expecting him to know how to swim without the board...

Depending on the age. Here are some of my observation. To be able to swim at least a 10 meter without float/support..and 5 meter on your back.

age 2 to 4 years old: 8 months to a year
age 5 to 7 years old: 5 to 8 months
age 8 to 12 years old: 3 to 6 months.

So take this as your gauge. Thanks.

I believe it is also the comfort level of your child. My DD swim without float earlier because she likes to swim but my DS scared of going into the pool. It takes him longer.[/quote]I would like to encourage those parents whose kid have fear in water or have low degree of water confidence and put them in a smaller group rather than big one. This will allow the kid to gain confidence easily under the watchful eye of a coach.

Kid that is fearful of water was due to the past bad experience of near drowned situation either in the pool or while taking shower and was left unattended till they are much older. Best to quickly recified the problem quickly after incident happen to make sure they are back to norm.

One way to check if the kid is fearful of water is to ask him to put his head down and blow the bubbles. Another way to check is to ask him to keep still while you splash water over his face making sure he does not avoid.

Just a thought. Have fun playing water and making splashes!!!

[Swimtutor]

Dear Parents,

I will be starting a group of 10 pax at Jurong West sunday 10am. Currently there are 4 students in the list. 6 more to fill up. If you are keen for a 1 time free trial with this group please PM me or email me at [email protected] or sms me at 91375141.

If you have decided to join in after the trial lesson, it will be $60 per 4 lessons of 45min to an hour.

Thanks and have a good day ahead.

[iRabbit]

DS recently completed his swim safer gold certification. I would like him to continue going for certification but not competitive swimming. Question is, what’s next? He’s 8 this yr. Thx.

[osim]

Just swim with him regularly as an exercise is good enough. I think there is no need to collect those certs as he can swim well already. The reason for those certs is commercial. We don’t need to let those businesses earn. One coach told me, a bronze is good enough for a kid. Even if you have a gold and not swim regularly, you will panic when in troubled waters. If you want to do competitive, then need continuous training.

[iRabbit]

What you said makes sense. Guess those times jumping into the pool fully clothed are no more for ds.

[jianyongtan]

It depends on your ds interest. If he really like to go further after swimsafer gold, he may consider going for life saving course which will equip him the deeper life saving skill and first aid. Otherwise, he can consider platform diving which is getting popular nowadays.

[iRabbit]

His swimming coach - who is very effective and got ds to pass bronze, silver & gold tests all within one yr - recommended long distance swimming certification. DS is keen to do that as he likes to have a target.


I heard of life-saving course too. What is the minimum age for that course? I suspect 8 yrs old being too young. Any url? Thanks for your info.

Edit: just went to the swim-speed website and found out that minimum age for life-saving course is 14. In swimsafer gold, one has to swim 400m using 4 diff strokes, which appears to be more stringent than the earlier stages of life-saving. In that case, do you know whether it’s possible to skip some levels? Just informational as ds is obviously too young for that.

[HyperKiasu]

FQW:

DS recently completed his swim safer gold certification. I would like him to continue going for certification but not competitive swimming. Question is, what's next? He's 8 this yr. Thx.

Hi, FQW,

did you send ur DS for Swimsafer Course and how much did you pay for it?

To get gold/silver/bronze certificate, is it really necessory to attend the course if the kids already can swim well and just pay the test fee, like that, can?

tnx

[jianyongtan]

HyperKiasu:

Hi, FQW,

did you send ur DS for Swimsafer Course and how much did you pay for it?

To get gold/silver/bronze certificate, is it really necessory to attend the course if the kids already can swim well and just pay the test fee, like that, can?

tnx

Do you learn swimming with any swimming instructor before? You can get your previous swimming instructor to arrange the test for you. If you turn to the back of the certificate, it actually requires both instructor and tester name.

[jianyongtan]

FQW:

His swimming coach - who is very effective and got ds to pass bronze, silver & gold tests all within one yr - recommended long distance swimming certification. DS is keen to do that as he likes to have a target.


I heard of life-saving course too. What is the minimum age for that course? I suspect 8 yrs old being too young. Any url? Thanks for your info.

Edit: just went to the swim-speed website and found out that minimum age for life-saving course is 14. In swimsafer gold, one has to swim 400m using 4 diff strokes, which appears to be more stringent than the earlier stages of life-saving. In that case, do you know whether it's possible to skip some levels? Just informational as ds is obviously too young for that.

Yes, 14 is the minimum age to take lifesaving test. But it is ok to start learning and practising lifesaving skill without test.

For lifesaving, you have to go for lifesaving 1,2 & 3. And if he want to become a certified lifeguard in the future, he has to go for Bronze Medallion after 1,2 & 3.