Swimming Lessons 2016 - Caden

I put the kids back in swimming lessons this spring at Little Strokes Swim Academy.  Luke, Caden and Porter were all a bit rusty since it had been a year since they took lessons.  They spent the first 10 weeks in a beginner class, relearning the basics.  After this first session, Luke and Caden were ready to move up to the "Swimmers" class.

The boys first teacher was great, but I loved their second teacher.  He was awesome!  In this class, because the kids could already swim, they were taught the different swimming strokes.  The teacher was a stickler about technique, which I loved.  He spent a lot of time teaching and perfecting their strokes.  This second session was much shorter.  A new swimming facility has been under construction and is almost complete, but it caused the two summer sessions to be cut short.  I was so sad this second session was only 4 weeks.  That meant that the boys only got 4, half-hour sessions.  With 3 kids in the class, there really wasn't enough time to teach them all I wanted them to learn.  I signed them up for August, but it turns out we will no longer be living here.  Bummer.  It is not actually a bummer, just a bummer for swimming lessons.


Here is Caden during the first session.  They first teach the kids to roll onto their back when they need a breath.  Side breathing comes later.

The next three videos are of Caden during his second session when he was learning specific strokes.  Freestyle uses side breathing instead of rolling onto the back.  He was so close to getting this one down before the 4 weeks were up.  I spent more time listening to their teacher during these 4 weeks than taking video.  I wanted to be able to help them at the pool when we go.  I did manage to get just a little footage of each stroke, though.

I loved that Noah, his teacher, would have him sit on the edge of the pool to work on a specific technique.  In this video, he is helping Caden get the feel of the backstroke, which requires kicking from the hip, not the knee.

For the butterfly, they learn dolphin kicks first, then add the arms to it later.  It is tricky.  Once Caden added the arms to it, he would frequently forget to come up for a breath when he was supposed to.  Again, I am so sad he only got 4 weeks to learn!