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How to Use an Elite Athletes’ Trick to Improve Your Kids’ Swimming

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, there are limits to what you can do. There’s only so much time you can spend in the pool. There’s only so much practice your kids can do before they get tired out. But there’s a trick that elite athletes use to break free of these limits, and you and your kids can use them, too.

Visualize Movement

Studies have shown that athletes get as much benefit from visualizing their performance in great detail as they do from physically practicing (up to a point—you’ve got to get in the water, too). Many elite athletes use visualization as part of their training. It’s safe. It’s portable. It helps build confidence and comfort. It doesn’t tire out your child’s body. It’s also a great distraction when you’re stuck in traffic or waiting in line. (Just make sure the driver isn’t doing the visualizing.)

Guide your child through a visualization of the skill you’re working on. Paint him a picture with words. Use descriptions of what he’ll be experiencing with all of his senses. Describe how the pool and the water look. Describe how the water feels. Describe the smell and the sounds of the pool. Describe how he’ll move his body and how that will feel. The more vivid the visualization, the more effective it will be.

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How to Leverage Your Greatest Advantage over Paid Swimming Teachers—Part 1

You have a major advantage over other swimming teachers when it comes to teaching your own child. You’ve got access to him when you’re not in the pool. Although there’s no way to learn to swim without getting in the water, there are lots of ways that you can enhance the learning process on dry land. Here’s the first way to help your kids learn to swim even when they’re out of the pool.

Let Them Observe

Kids learn by watching a good example. Have your child watch lap swimmers, and point out what’s going on. “See how he turns his head to the side when he takes a breath?”

Kids learn by watching other kids. Kids often learn to use swings by themselves within days after they watch other kids pumping their legs. Have your child watch other kids swim.

Ask a friend to record a video of your child while he swims so that you can watch it together later. The post-game analysis of his lesson lets your child see what’s going right and wrong in a situation when he’s not under pressure to remain afloat. It’s a perfect way to use modern technology the way pro athletes have for a long time.

Have your child practice skills on land in front of the mirror. Your child can use you as a model and correct his body position based on what he sees. You can highlight what’s going on. “See how your head is tilted down now? How does it feel if you look up a bit? That’s it.” Suggest changes. Point out what’s working.

Ask your child for his analysis of what’s going on while he watches. How does a movement work? What parts of the body are involved? How does it feel? Does timing make a difference? Where are the parts of the body in relationship to each other and to the water?

Observation won’t replace getting in the pool and moving, but it will supplement and strengthen what you teach your kids in the pool.

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Backtrack to Move Forward When You’re Teaching Your Kids to Swim

How can going backwards help you move forward when you’re teaching your kids to swim?

It reinforces what they’ve learned and gives them the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the swimming skill you’re working on. It also prepares them for learning the next skill without the awkwardness of not fully understanding what’s come before.

I discussed the importance of reviewing in an earlier post. Here are some steps to take to make reviewing work for you.

Set Your Expectations

Don’t expect your child to pick up where you left off at the end of the last lesson. Backtrack a bit and work up to the skills your child was working on at the end of the last lesson. If there are skills your child has already mastered, you don’t need to work on them in every lesson.

Where to Start

Start your review at the very beginning of the previous lesson’s new material and spend five to ten minutes practicing it. If your child feels really confident after the first five minutes, you can move on. If he still seems tentative, use more of your lesson on review.

Let Your Kids Riff

Try having your child experiment with doing the skill in different ways and comparing the results. Ask him to point out what he thinks works the best. Steer him away from unsafe or ineffective movements.

Play!

Ask your child how he thinks things are going. After some practice, make the skill a vehicle for play.

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Getting Your Kids into the Pool for the First Time When You’re Teaching Them to Swim

Getting into the pool can be quick and easy or it can take most of your time, depending on where you and your child are in the process. Unless getting into the pool is the new skill you’re teaching or is the recently learned skill that you’re reviewing, take just a minute or two to get into the pool together. If you’re getting into the pool together for the first time, you can use this technique to get into the pool.

Getting into the Pool

If your child does want to try getting into the pool, seat him on the edge of the pool. Keep a hand on him while you climb into the pool first. Making sure you’re stable, stand facing your child, and use both arms to transfer him from the edge of the pool into a close hug. Keep your head and your child’s head close together and at the same level to help him feel secure.

Once You’re In

Splash together, play together, and explore the feel of the water together. Don’t give in to the temptation to start a lesson. This visit is just for getting used to the water.

Getting Used to the Water

When your child is first getting used to the water, try to avoid splashing his face with water. Instead, get his face wet gently, by stroking him with your fingers. If his face does get wet, don’t wipe it off. There’s nothing wrong with getting a little wet, so don’t send a non-verbal message that says otherwise.

When You’re Teaching Your Kids to Swim, Leave Them Wanting More

Don’t push practice too long. Not only does it stop being fun, but also it’s physically less effective. If your child is tired, everything will feel harder and scarier.

The Most Important Thing

After safety, the most important thing to accomplish on your first visit to the pool is to have fun. You’re not just introducing your child to the water. You’re also introducing him to the style and approach you’ll take when you’re teaching him to swim, setting up his expectations for how he’ll feel about spending time in the pool with you, and setting in motion the development of feelings he’ll have toward swimming for the rest of his life. If it’s not fun, step back, adjust your expectations for yourself and your child, and try for fun again. Not only will it help your child learn, it’ll be…fun.