Embury Institute for Teacher Education

Physical Education and Sport

Swimming Teaching Course in water safety and proficiency 2013

1. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS As the teacher you are responsible for the childrens safety in the pool area. It is a big responsibility. It is not advisable to have a group of more than 4 or 5 children by yourself in the pool area. It is preferable to have another teacher who can swim with you. If this is not possible approach parents to assist you. Parent assistants do not need to teach, they are there as another pair of eyes and hands. The teacher must always face the class and should never turn his/her back on the swimmers. When giving instructions use simple concise terms. The learning of any new skill requires lots of repetition until the skill becomes a habit. Swimming is no different so you are going to need to repeat each new skill until the children become confident. Make sure you count the children in and out the water before and after each lesson. If children are unwell or have any open sores they should not be allowed into the water. 2. DISCIPLINE You will need to tailor your rules to your specific situation. It is important however that you have clear boundaries and expectations in mind before you enter the water. Rather than deal with issues on a reactionary basis you need to explain the behaviour you expect to the children before they enter the water. In this way they understand their boundaries and what is expected of them. The following should be regarded as the minimum number of points to note: Children are not allowed to run in the pool area. Neither can they run and jump into the water, nor dive bomb. Whenever they enter the water they must make sure that there are no children underneath them in the water. Children must obey whatever signal you have prearranged with them a whistle etc. No one should be allowed to enter the water until permission has been given. Before each lesson indicate safe limits beyond which they must not go. Explain to the children that must never take anything made of glass into the pool area and they must never cry for help unless they really need it.
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Rough play, e.g. pushing others into the water or dunking them, is not permitted. Sweets, chewing gum or any other food should be banned during swimming lessons.

It is preferable for at least one teacher on the pool deck to have completed a basic First Aid course. At the very least teachers must know where a First Aid kit is located and where to call for help in the event of an emergency. If an emergency does occur remember to get all the children out of the water immediately. 3. CLASSIFICATION OF PUPILS Swimmers can be classified as follows: Non-swimmer has not yet become waterborne and still has to maintain contact with the bottom of the pool. Beginner is able to move through the water using very basic stroke movements, either on the front or on the back, and is able to regain a standing position.

Swimmer uses a clearly recognisable stroke, or strokes, with appropriate breathing and is able to cover a minimum distance of 25 metres. [ Noble, J and
Crequeen, A (2009) 7]

4. INTRODUCTION TO THE WATER AND SAFE WATER ENTRY This must be done safely and calmly. Never push, pull or throw a cautious or anxious child into the water. If there are steps into the pool allow the children one by one to walk quietly and calmly into the water. Their feet must remain on the bottom of the pool. If there are no steps get all the children to sit on the edge of the pool and dangle their feet in the water. Ask them how the water feels. Let them kick their legs and make splashes. Encourage them to cup their hands and pour water over their torsos, then their shoulders and lastly to wash their faces. Entry may then be made into the water by turning sideways to place one hand across the body onto the poolside, then taking the weight on both hands and dropping into the water. Once in the water the childrens feet must retain contact with the ground. Ask them what sensations they experience on their bodies. Now get them to bend their knees
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and submerge their shoulders. If the water is deep enough they must keep their shoulders submerged, in this way the all-around support of the water can be felt. It is also warmer this way. For greater stability they should keep their feet apart and hold their arms in a spread out position, pressing on the water to assist balance. Line them up in groups against one wall in the shallow end and get them to walk from one side of the shallow end to the other. This is all allowing them to develop confidence in the water. Following are activities to assist balance and initial movement in the water [these have been exerted from Noble J and Crequeen A (2009) 10 13]: BOBBING Swimmers stand facing the pool wall and hold the wall with both hands. They must rise and sink gently and continuously, with the shoulders submerging. Progress to standing sideways with a single hand and, as confidence grows, move to a free standing position. MAKING WAVES Swimmers face the pool wall and hold the wall with both hands. By pushing backwards and forwards continuously, make waves with the back and chest. Once they are comfortable doing this they can let go of the wall and make waves by sweeping the arms sideways and forwards, with the palms leading. CRAB WALK Children stand spaced out in shallow water along the edges of the pool. They grasp the edge of the pool with both hands, lift their feet off the bottom and start walking crab-like along the sides of the pool, changing direction on the signal Move right! or Move left! SKIING Children stand in the water with their shoulders submerged. By sliding one foot after the other along the floor of the pool and using their arms for balance, movement away from the wall can be made in a manner similar to walking on skis. Pressing backwards against the water with the arms will assist forward movement. DUCK WALK
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Children stand with knees bent and shoulders submerged. Keeping the chin at the water surface walk like a duck, raising the feet slightly from the pool floor. Pull with the arms just below the surface to assist forward movement and make appropriate sounds by blowing into the water. MOTOR BOATS Each child needs a kickerboard which is held out in front and used as a steering wheel. The children walk freely in different directions. Imitate the sound of a motor boat by blowing vigorously into the water. MIMING As the teacher calls out words the children attempt to perform an appropriate mime. CHEST BALL Moving around the shallow area of the pool children attempt to propel a ball by pushing it with the chest. This could be used as a relay. BREATHING PRACTICES It is important to explain to the children that when swimming it is not how much air you take in but how much you let out that is important in swimming. A child who has perfected breath control will be relaxed and will be able to learn new skills relatively easily. For those children who struggle to establish breath control encourage them to blow bubbles in the bath at home. Cut lengths of garden hose and get the children to blow bubbles into buckets of water. BLOWING BUBBLES: Scoop up as much water as possible in cupped hands and then blow it away vigorously; Lower the face into the water and blow bubbles first slowly to see who can make the longest blow; then suddenly to see who can make the loudest sound; then imaginatively to see who can make different animal sounds. Fountains suck up a mouthful of water and blow it out like a fountain.
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OPENING EYES UNDER THE WATER It is essential that children are able to open their eyes under the water. Eyes open under the water assists balance and develops confidence. To encourage the children to open their eyes under the water play games: Face in eyes open put your hand up under water and look at it, count fingers. In pairs children show fingers to each other under the water and the partner has to say how many fingers are being shown. Children submerge with eyes open and teacher shows coloured rings, they have to say which colours were being shown. Children submerge in pairs or larger groups and each child has a child to mime an action under the water which the others must watch and say what was being mimed. SUBMERSION EXERCISES Submerging refers to the action of submerging the whole body under the water. Following are activities to encourage submersion: DIRTY FACES [Noble,J and Crequeen, A (2009) 13] - scoop two handfuls of water and wash the face vigorously, as if it were really dirty. This activity could be modified by pouring water over the head and watching it trickle down, thus encouraging the children to keep their eyes open. Furthermore it encourages anxious children to let go of the side. BOBBING AND SUBMERGING first in twos. Children stand facing a partner and hold each others wrists. After taking a breath, one partner bends his knees to submerge and blows out through the mouth and nose. On returning to the surface for a breath, the other partner submerges and exhales. Children should try develop a rhythmic action [Noble,J and Crequeen, A (2009) 13]. Now children submerge on their own. Children squat, shoulders submerged, chin on surface, keep head erect, bend knees and submerge exhaling all the way down and up, continue breathing out when the head is out of the water. Repeat until children only need to take one breath on each surfacing and succeed in slow, steady exhalation throughout the period of submersion. When children are comfortable submerging in the shallow end take them to the deep end and practise submerging there.
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SITTING ON THE BOTTOM submerge and blow bubbles on the bottom. Next submerge, blow bubbles, show rings. Submerge, blow bubbles, teacher counts fingers under water to encourage children to keep eyes open. Submerge, blow bubbles, play teddy bear, teddy bear. SKILLS FOR BUOYANCY, POSITION AND BALANCE Kicking holding on side - straight legs point toes to other wall, no bent knees. Kicking on side blowing bubbles. Kicking on side bilateral breathing.

Explain to the children about being streamlined when we are streamlined that is when we move through the water the fastest. Hold kickerboards straight arms at back of board (make a window, face goes into window) kick with straight legs and toes pointing to wall. Kick comes from the hip. Encourage the children to put their faces in and blow bubbles. Once they are confident with blowing bubbles and kicking encourage them to breathe to the side ear stays in water. Explain to the swimmers that when you are talking do you talk talk talk then take a huge gasp of air and then carry on? No. It is the same when we swim, we blow bubbles so that we blow all the old air out, then we turn our heads to the side, breathe in normally and carry on. If some children struggle to gain momentum with the kickerboard hold the front of the board and pull it while they kick. This helps to make them more streamlined. PRONE FLOAT explain how our bodies are like see-saws in the water if the head is out the feet will drop. Children to hold the wall or teachers hand and put face under the water and allow feet to float to the surface. It is important that the childrens hands are level and not out of the water (if they lift their heads their feet will drop). To stand (this is also known as a recovery skill) - pull knees into chests and place them on the bottom of the pool. Hands can be used to press downwards in the water. Then lift faces to stand up.
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When the children are more confident they can release their hold of the wall/teachers hand. They will then experience the buoyancy of the water and the lack of need for support. STREAMLINING AND GLIDING faces tucked in, squash ears, torch(on top of head) pointing to the other wall, legs together. Push off from the wall and pretend to be a canoe. When stopped gliding draw knees into chest, put feet on bottom and then lift face out of water. STREAMLINING AND KICKING push off hard from the wall (make friends with the wall) and kick (flutter kick knees must be kept straight). DOGGY PADDLE: Very important as is the basis for front crawl/freestyle. Demonstrate hand movements deep digging. Children squat or walk with shoulders submerged and practise doggy-paddle. Head erect, holding breath, children sit on bottom, lift feet gently off the bottom and using dog-paddle movements, bring themselves slowly to the surface. When face surfaces, children try continue supporting themselves using the doggy paddle hand movements For those who cant use pool noodles to help them. These are very useful as they keep the swimmer buoyant but arms are free. Basic doggy paddle movement is digging and kicking. Children must put faces in and blow bubbles. BACK FLOAT children squat until shoulders are submerged, arms extended sideways, gradually extend head backwards until hips rise. Tell the children it is like they are lying on a bed in the water! It is very important that the chin is pointing up to the sky, otherwise the feet tend to sink. Teacher can give slight support with hand under head, and gradually remove support until child floats. To stand children bend forward and lift head. Teacher can help. Repeat until children can float on their backs unaided. BACK GLIDE same as back float position but push off from the side of the pool. Children can pretend to carry a kitten or cup of tea in their hands, or they can pretend to play the piano. Having something else to focus on helps the children who are not confident.

BACK KICK GLIDE the back glide will progress to the back kick glide. Emphasise that the legs must remain under the water, knees not bent and only the big toes breaking the surface. Ankles must be relaxed and toes point to the opposite wall. Chest and hips must be held high (Smith, E Elementary Course notes, pg 17). TREADING WATER children swim/glide into deeper water (should only be done with as many children as the teacher can manage, probably no more than 4 at a time) and drop legs. Continue with doggy paddle hand movements. At the same time they can use any large bent knee underwater leg action. After a few seconds they can put their faces back in the water, their feet will rise and they can kick to the shallow water (Smith, E Elementary Course notes, pg 17). FLOATS: Pencil float take a full breath, squash the ears with the arms pointed straight up, put face in, legs must be straight and together so that the whole body is long and thin like a pencil. Star float take a full breath, put the face in, spread arms and legs out like a star and lie on top of the water. Mushroom float Take a full breath, put the face in the water, tuck the knees into the chest and clasp the arms around the lower legs. This will cause the body to rotate forwards with the back rounded (like the top of a mushroom) just above the surface of the water. Eventually aim for the children to be able to take one breath and do all three floats in one breath. Once children can do this it is a good indication that they are ready to learn the formal strokes. DIVING TO THE BOTTOM OF THE POOL with the arms in front they are pulled back strongly, the torch on the head is pointed to the ground and the knees are brought forwards into a tucked position. The body then rotates forward and the legs are extended. This dive can be used to retrieve objects from the bottom of the pool.

STROKES (Adapted from Smith, E. Elementary Course notes) FREESTYLE/FRONT CRAWL

HEAD POSITION: crown of head(torch) points in the direction that swimmer wants to go. Head must remain still except when breathing. BODY POSITION: very flat in water (correct position is maintained by keeping head down). ARM ACTION: elbows out first and fingernails in first. Top of hand(headlights) facing in direction the swimmer wants to move. Entry of fingers into water is an arms length away (stretch arms) pulling under the tummy. Fingernails pointing to the floor of the pool when pulling the water. LEG ACTION: kick comes from the hip, not the knees. Toes pointed in a relaxed manner with ankles relaxed and loose. BREATHING: encourage children to blow bubbles blow old air out so that when they need to breathe they turn their head to the side (ear remains on the water) and all they need to do is breathe in. When breathing look under the shoulder i.e. look not where they are going but where they have been. ________________________________________________________________________ BACKSTROKE HEAD POSITION: water should cover the ears so that the torch points in the direction the swimmer wants to go. The head needs to remain still. Chin up with eyes looking at the sky. BODY POSITION: body very flat with chest and hip high not siiting in the water. ARM ACTION: baby finger out first, straight knife that cuts off the ear and then hug mom. Baby finger in first, pull to the leg with fingernails leading. The pull is in the shape of a half circle. Use rhyme (Tick tock, tick tock, Im a grandfather clock) and get children to repeat it as they practise arm movement. LEG ACTION: kick comes from the hip. Toes pointed in a relaxed manner with ankles relaxed and loose as though kicking a ball. Knees remain under the water at all times (the water should boil) BREATHING: no special rhythm with backstroke. BREASTROKE HEAD POSITION: Head rides naturally on the shoulders with eyes forward. On the glide head may go right under the water.
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BODY POSITION: body flat in the water but during the stroke it has a see-saw action. As the arms are pulled back head and shoulders come out so legs will drop. When swimmer goes into the glide the head goes in and the legs will rise. ARM ACTION: upside down heart which is cut in half. There is no stopping of action until the glide is achieved. LEG ACTION: bend out push or round together. Try to keep knees as close together as possible and always ensure that swimmer finishes the kick with a big toe kiss. Pretend you have eyes on your knees knees must keep looking at the floor. BREATHING: breathing occurs when the arms are pulling and the head and shoulders are out of the water. Breathe out in the glide. TIMING: kick into the glide, then pull. ________________________________________________________________________ BUTTERFLY HEAD POSITION: the head leads the stroke. When hands are forward, eyes are looking at the bottom of the pool. When hands are pulling eyes are looking forward. BODY POSITION: The body will see-saw in the water. As arms are pulled back head and shoulders will emerge and legs drop. When arms are forward and head is down legs will rise. Body should remain as close to the water as possible for least resistance. ARM ACTION: butterfly is like double arm freestyle except the arms are straighter. Hands enter thumbs first, pulled under tummy, baby finger out first. The pull forms a half circle. LEG ACTION: legs act together as a fin like a dolphin dive. For each arm rotation there are two kicks. As arms are pulled back a deep kick occurs, on entry a second kick occurs on top of the water. BREATHING: breathing occurs when the arms are pulled and the head comes out and breathing out occurs when arms are stretched forward. TIMING: kick the hands in and kick the hands out. DRILLS FOR STROKES (as adapted from Elizabeth Smiths Elementary course notes) Drills are series of exercises that are used to improve technique.
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FREESTYLE DRILLS Kicking holding the front of the board. Kicking holding the back of the board blowing bubbles. Kicking holding the back of the board with bilateral (side to side) breathing. Catch-up with kickerboard. Catch-up with short pool noodle. Chicken wings. Polo sprint push ball with chest, wide arms. Swimming with dragging hand fingers drag in water, hands must be relaxed. Swim with fists. Swim with pool buoy between legs ie no kicking, focus on arm technique only. BACKSTROKE DRILLS Kicking on back. Kicking with hands on chest. Kicking elbows tucked into waist, hands out of water. Kicking with hands and arms out. Kicking holding board like tombstones. Kicking with arms at sides and pool buoy between legs water must boil. Kicking with fingertips touching water behind, stopping and changing above eyes. Kicking sitting on board water must boil. Kicking rolling with shoulder pointing to the sky hands at sides.
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Kicking with one hand reaching for the sky other hand does backstroke. Double arm backstroke. One arms stretched above head other arm pulling.

BREASTROKE DRILLS Kicking with board holding in front. Kicking with board holding at back blowing bubbles. Kicking without board, hands straight ahead, face out. Kicking without board arms outstretched and thumbs pointing at the sky, face out. Kicking, hands at hips, side of foot must kick hands. Kicking sitting on board. Kick on back (life-saving kick) Breastroke dive under the water, bottoms up (exaggerated movement to show how to see-saw) Breastroke 1-2-stretch

BUTTERFLY DRILLS Bottoms up bottoms down. 3 x bottoms up, bottoms down on top of water, 3 under. Dolphin kick with flippers Set of 6 kicks 1. On top; 2. On bottom;

3. On right side. 4. On left side. Right arm only with dolphin kick. Left arm only with dolphin kick.
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 DIVES

Dolphin kick x 6 and 1 stroke; repeat Dolphin kick under x 6, come up, 3 strokes. Repeat. Full stroke concentrating on stretch. Full stroke concentrating on breathing with chin on water.

1. Humpty Dumpty (for very young swimmers) sit on edge of pool with legs hanging in water, knees apart, point arms into water, head down between arms and torch (head) pointing to opposite side and fall in. 2. Forward header stand on side of pool with legs apart and bent, toes over the edge, hands touching toes. Hands swing forward and toes push off. Very important that head does not point to the bottom of the pool must point to the opposite side.

LESSON PLANS When planning your swimming lessons it is important to consider the abilities of the pupils and to ensure that all of them have a reasonable chance of achievement. Your aim is to keep the children motivated and interested and the way to do this is to vary activities and to make the lessons fun! A general lesson plan which can be adjusted to all classes would include the following: Period of adjustment to the water Warm up Progressions to arrive at doggie paddle action Progressions to arrive at free style action kicking, catch-up etc Introduction of another stroke Warm-down period diving; fetching rings; fun race etc
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USEFUL SWIMMING AIDS Kickerboards Pool noodles the value of these cannot be underestimated they can be used for group games (eg crocodile or caterpillar races), as well as as flotation devices, they are positioned under the childs arms this frees both their arms and legs for doggy paddle movements, they can also be cut into 30cm lengths to be used for catch-up activities and for streamlining. Pool buoys Coloured rings used under the water to encourage the children to open their eyes under the water and to encourage blowing bubbles under the water, and they can be used for diving and retrieving games. Weighted hoops Flippers to encourage the correct kicking action

Developed by Nicky Mazoue (BEd; Baby, Elementary and Intermediate Swim Instructors Certificates)

BIBLIOGRAPHY Noble, J and Crequeen, A Swimming Games and Activities London: A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 2009. Smith, E Elementary Course notes.

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