Fun Relays!

I was a competitive swimmer for seven years and began coaching my senior year of high school. Altogether, I coached for five years. I have coached high school boys, middle school boys and girls, and elementary boys and girls. I think that coaching is rewarding in the fact that you can really see how much the kids have progressed after putting in so much hard work and dedication. I do believe that having a little fun in the process is completely okay!

When I coached a team called, Mini Marlins, it was a group of kids from the ages five to fourteen. We had a meet about every five weeks and they looked forward to them! Something that I tried to do at least a few times a year was have a fun meet. I would coordinate it with the other coaches and teams to make sure it was extra fun for the kids. We would also make it all relays so that the teams could work together and the ages could be all mixed up.

Some of the events of the meet would be:

·         Noodle relay

·         Freestyle relay with flippers

·         Freestyle relay with pull buoys

·         Backstroke relay with balancing a squirt toy on their head

·         Ascending or descending relay for instance: first swimmer 25 yards, second swimmer 50 yards, third swimmer 75 yards, last swimmer 100 yards

·         Tarzan relay (Freestyle with head out of the water)

·         Corkscrew relay (Backstroke/ freestyle combined to make a stroke)

·         Kicking relay (uses kickboard)

·         All backstroke/ breaststroke/ butterfly relays

·         Ballet leg relay

·         Dog relay

These are just some of the many relays that the kids would be able to participate in. I think that in order to have a strong team, the kids have to be able to have a little bit of fun together. It is amazing how the older kids would help the younger ones in these relays. They would all cheer for one another, because some of these relays are hard or easy for all the age groups. It is more of an even playing field for the swimmers.

For the noodle relay, the swimmers had to swim holding the noddle. Some swimmers would choose to stick it in between their legs; others would hold it with their arms. Regardless of how they held it, it didn’t matter, as long as they held it somehow.

 A freestyle relay with flippers is just as it sounds. The swimmers were able to use flippers when they swam. Likewise, in the pull buoy relay the swimmers had to have the pull buoy between their legs.

In the backstroke relay with squirt toys, I would have the swimmers balance a squirt toy on their forehead and swim backstroke. TIP: This is also a great technique for teaching rolling in backstroke! If the toy falls off, the swimmer has to place it back on his or her head before continuing to swim.

I would either do one or the other with an ascending or descending relay. Ascending the yards would go up as each swimmer swam and the opposite would happen for descending. This relay is a great opportunity to mix age groups. I would have my youngest swim the smallest amount of yards and my oldest swim the most amount of yards.

Tarzan and corkscrew are swimmer favorites. Normally, all the swimmers want to be in these two relays because they are so fun. Tarzan is just freestyle, but with your head out of the water. Corkscrew is one freestyle stroke and one backstroke stroke continuously alternating. Warning: corkscrew will make the swimmers dizzy! I would only have them swim 25 yards to 50 yards max with corkscrew. Anything more than that and it’s hard for the swimmers to even remotely stay in a straight line.

A kickboard relay is a relay using a kickboard. I would sometimes mix up the strokes and each swimmer would have to do a different type of kick. The first swimmer might do butterfly kick, the second backstroke kick, the third breaststroke kick, and the last freestyle kick. For backstroke, the swimmer would just kick on his or her back. This is a great way to mix it up! I have also had all the swimmers kick freestyle. Sometimes, I will have both types of relays depending on my swimmers. If I have an abundant amount of swimmers that like kicking I will add both types of relays in.

The all backstroke/ breaststroke/ butterfly relay is when each swimmer swims the same stroke in the relay. In regular competitions there are all freestyle relays. There aren’t any all breaststroke, backstroke, or butterfly relays, so I will try and mix it up by adding those strokes in as their own relay. Swimmers enjoy these relays and make great teams. All the swimmers who swim breaststroke as their main stroke get to swim together in a relay and they get excited about it. This also happens with breaststroke and butterfly.

Ballet leg relay is where the swimmers swim backstroke but with one leg out of the water. The leg that is out must be straight up in the air and pointed! This is both hard and fun for the kids to do.

Lastly, the dog relay is a lot of fun for the younger swimmers especially. They just swim doggy paddle for this relay. I will also have younger swimmers bark like a dog because they think it is hilarious. Occasionally, one of the kids will make a random cat noise which is always very funny. The swimmers get very excited to act like a dog in the water!

Swimming is a hard sport but it can be a fun sport! Sometimes letting the kids have fun is a wonderful way to build a strong team!

This is the noodle relay!

Equipment in Parent and Child Classes

My last post was about the songs I sing in a Parent and Child class. This post will be all about some of the equipment I use and how I use it. I have mentioned before that squirt toys are great for children to get comfortable in the water. They are also great for this class. I will have the parents or child throw the toy and then the child scoops after it. The children will squeeze the toys or sometimes even swim with them in hand. I also play the Treasure Hunt game with this class too. They each get one toy at a time and return it to the toy bucket.

Another piece of equipment that is great for parent and child are balls. Balls can be used in many different ways. The children can lie on their backs in their parent’s arms, and then the parent will put the ball at their feet. The children then will kick the ball. This is a great way to get small children to kick their feet. I have seen even small infants will kick their feet in order to hit the ball. If the child struggles to understand the concept of kicking, the parent can hold each of their child’s feet and move them up and down in a kicking motion. This will help the child learn what kicking is.

Along with kicking balls, the children can swim to them. They can switch from their back to their front and use the same piece of equipment. The balls can be used the same way as the squirt toys. The children can scoop their arms to the ball that is theirs, grab it with two hands, and then throw it. If the child is of infant age, sometimes letting him or her hold the ball on his or her front and concentrating on just kicking is also a good strategy. A lot of times smaller children can only focus their attention on one part of their body at a time. That means that they will either be kicking their feet or scooping their arms. As a parent, you can always still encourage both, because one day it will click and they will be kicking and scooping at the same time!

From google

Swimming and Singing

One of my favorite swim classes to teach is Parent and Child. This class consists of infants to three years old. A great strategy for this class is singing many songs. I open the class with at least four short songs and end with the same amount (even if that means repeating songs). Some good songs to sing with them are Grand Old Duke of York, Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, If You Are Happy and You Know it, Motor Boat Motor Boat, and any other children’s song. Songs are great to help the children relax in the water, especially if they are uneasy about being in a big pool.

When I sing these songs, the parents will move their children along to the words. In Grand Old Duke of York, the children are constantly being bounced up and down. Little ones that don’t like the water at first tend to enjoy being bounced around in the water. It helps them to settle down.

I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to help the children learn the concept of floating as well as getting their faces wet a little. The children lie on their backs in their parent’s arms and put their arms and legs out like starfish. If they are under one year old, I just have them lay on their back without looking like a starfish. The children then rest their heads on their parent’s shoulder so that they feel more comfortable in the water. Finally, the parent will sprinkle a little water over their child’s forehead. Just a little to get the child wet in the face, but not enough to be splashing and scaring him or her. Sometimes for small children, lying on their back is scary, so if they are struggling I tell the parents to sway their children back and forth to the beat of the song. This will help them relax. I also will sing this song twice in a row. The first time is to get the children comfortable and situated and the second time is after they are situated and can really hear the song.

Wheels on the Bus is another one of my favorites and it’s a favorite of the children as well. For this song, the children go up and down and side to side. They also start to learn how to blow bubbles in this song. If they are too young to blow actual bubbles into the water, I just have the parent dip their child’s chin into the water to get him or her used to it. Here is also an example of how I might sing the song. The parents follow along to the words like they do the other songs.

The wheels on the bus go round and round (walk in a circle)

Round and round

Round and round

The wheels on the bus go round and round

All through the town

The blower on the bus goes (blow bubbles)

(Blow bubbles)

(Blow bubbles)

The blower on the bus goes (blow bubbles)

All through the town

I will continue this for “children go up and down” and “wipers go swish swish swish” (side to side).

If You Are Happy and You Know it is a great song to let children have fun. When I sing this song I will have them splash their hands, kick their feet, bounce up and down, and blow bubbles. For most children, splashing their hands is their favorite. This song has a lot of freedom and as a parent or teacher, you can go anywhere with it. You can even have them splash their hands and kick their feet at the same time!

Songs are a great way to get children excited about swimming and they help with anxiety! Remember to always have fun when in the water, it might be scary to children, so you have to show them it isn’t!

From google

A Little Success

In my last post I gave a great tip to help children get in the pool. For this post, I will focus on one of the many awesome kids I taught. When you have taught for four years, you come across a lot of different people. My favorite lessons are the special education private lessons. All together I have taught about fifteen private lessons with all different types of special needs.

The swimmer’s name is Sarah and she was my first private lesson that has special needs. She has Asperger Syndrome which is on the Autism spectrum. Asperger syndrome is when a child has trouble with social interactions. She was a challenge for me because she would scream, cry, and scratch me. There was also a language barrier between us. She spoke Spanish at home and English only when she was in public settings. Based on the fact that she was only five years old, she was not in many public settings and didn’t speak much English.

She enjoyed playing with the squirt toys, so I used that to my advantage. I also made sure to ask her mom what she specifically knew in English so that I could talk with her. Luckily, she knew words like no, yes, sit, stay, please, and a few other simple commands that I might say during a swim lesson. I also taught her English words with demonstration and had her repeat them for instance, scoop, kick, splash, etc. She would also say very random things that didn’t really have to do with anything in particular. She was in her own personal train of thought, and it was hard for me to ride her train and keep up. The biggest challenge though was that her social skills were in need of some growth. For the first six lessons or so, I just walked with her in my arms around the pool as she held a toy. She would cry a lot, but it wasn’t because she didn’t like the water. She actually liked being in the water. I personally think that she just didn’t know what to do with herself in water. She would scratch and pry to get away, but then when I gave her freedom she would come right back to me. So, I was patient and waited for her to show me she was ready in her own way.

One day, Sarah showed me she was ready by starting the lesson without tears. I could see in her small face that she was still not completely convinced about swimming, but she was ready nonetheless. Aside from screaming out of fear and uncertainty, she was a screamer out of joy too. She would let her vocal cords rip through the air and her arms would swing and hit the water with full force. I would give her the squirt toys and she would happily retrieve them. With her, it was hard in the fact that she ALWAYS had to throw the toys, and when I tried to throw them farther she would scream. This was a challenge because she would end up only swimming about five feet or less at a time. I had to be sneaky by letting her throw a toy, and while she was swimming, I would throw a different toy and tell her that we had to get that one too. After being very patient with Sarah and understanding that she can’t always help her actions, Sarah was able to swim by herself 25 yards and after only four months of swim lessons. She is a little success. 

From: google.com

Squirt Toys!

Squirt water toys are a big help for any child who does or doesn’t want to swim. As soon as children see these wonderful characters, their eyes light right up, and they are ready to go. I use these to get kids to swim a distance. I will throw them as far as I want them to swim and then we will go and get them. I also let the kids throw the toys to give them some ownership. If they don’t throw the toys far enough, I just simply grab them and throw them again to make it as far away as I need. I call this game Treasure Hunt or sometimes I tell the swimmers that we need to save all of our friends. Depending on the swimmer, I let him or her name the toys to make it more personal. This helps if he or she is uncertain about swimming to the toys.

A helpful tip with this is that the swimmers can only get one at a time. When they only retrieve one at a time, they are working harder and for a longer period of time. If a child still doesn’t want to swim to the toys, I will pretend to race him or her. This is a big help and will give the swimmer the motivation he or she needs! I will even get really close and almost put my hands around the toy but stop just in time for the swimmer to get it. The swimmer will then hold the toy and swim it back to a designated spot on the pool deck.

TIP: You will most likely be squirt at with these toys! Set boundaries and what the kids can and can’t squirt at. I like to give them a chance to squirt at something because let’s be honest, they love it!

STORY: A great story I experienced with these toys is when I was teaching a three-year-old girl, who would not get in the water. Even when I showed her the toys, she was a little hesitant and continued to cry. I brought her to the pool’s edge, and we sat down together with our feet in the water. I let her hold a toy, and I kept one in my own hands as well. I filled my toy up and squirt my leg over and over again. She watched me for a while and then I asked her if she wanted to squirt my leg too. She loved the idea and started squirting the toy at me on my legs and arms. I returned the action on her and squirt her legs and arms. We were then both squirting ourselves and each other. She quickly warmed up to the water and I was able to get her in. I let her hold the toy in her hands for a while before asking her to throw it herself and retrieve it. 

From: google.com