Look no further for the best summer class (if your child hasn’t been to one yet)
If you’ve ever thought to yourself “What could one get from a swimming school that can’t be taught personally?” well strap in because this would clear things up for you and why you may want to actually accomplish that as soon as possible.
In our case, we have our 7 year old whom we enrolled. This isn’t one of those toddler learn to swim classes where instinct is molded, this particular enrollment age already imparts instruction and logic so there is a sense of “fear” that is involved.
Taking the plunge.
BLSS or the Bert Lozada Swim School is never the only swim school choice nowadays, there are plenty – in fact there was a closer one to our location but we ended up here because of scheduling preference. Prior to enrollment we checked out the pool/s where the lessons were going to take place and some of the details that you wouldn’t find in the ad banners.
Once you have enrolled – you get guidelines on what to wear and what to bring for the sessions. At BLSS that’s a kickboard, goggles, and a swim cap – the latter (they wont say this) kind of optional. Swimming clothes are naturally expected – we wouldn’t want our kids to be sunburnt now would we. Now depending on where the lessons will take place they have some “perks” that go alongside it – like ours was conducted at Novotel, Cubao – the perks include free parking, free towel, one guardian has the option of accompanying the learner for the additional one hour after class that the pool can be accessed. This may vary so make sure to ask the person in-charge which in our case was Ms Nerissa.
Treading the waters.
Here’s a breakdown of what will transpire during the classes. The lessons would be for 10 days for one hour each – there are several classes within a day some in the morning, some in the afternoon – this is the schedule you can see in their banners. Each coach has a hard limit of 5 students – this gives the coach enough time to cycle between the students and make them do the exercises within the allotted time frame. One hour in the pool is quite short especially when you’ve got several participants that need to be taken care of – and they could be of different skill levels as well – depending on the enrollment – it’s up to the coach to manage the instruction/s. There can be multiple coaches in a specific class slot.
The coaches have 5 days for initial instruction and then the next 5 days for polishing and/or advancement. It’s an effective ladder-ized system which the parents/guardians will be informed of at the last day of the swimming lessons.
The swim school advantage.
Because the coaches are new to the learners, they immediately associate a degree of authority to them that you simply wouldn’t be able to apply as a parent/guardian. Magnus actually told me to not to try to teach him as I wasn’t his coach LOL. I have been trained formally twice IIRC – once in elementary, and a second time during college in a BLS capacity, Basic Life Saving, it’s one of those courses that you never quite forget.
There’s also the prepared environment – the lessons are taught immediately at over 4 feet pool depth – (competition regulation maybe) they have movable platforms that allow for students to stand and prepare on one side and land on another point within the pool – not just from edge to edge.
Finally there’s the class itself – whether its a pair being taught, a trio, just one swimmer (though this probably never happens), whatever number it is creates a psychological foothold for the learners to grasp upon. It helps them acquire the skills faster because of the shared experience.
Swim schools also offer various schedules so learners can select what’s ideal to match their own but there are two main variants – a once a week class, and a daily class. The first finishes the course in 2.5 months, the other completes in 2 weeks. We’ve come to appreciate the daily lessons because having that big of a gap in between lessons probably has different skill reinforcement values embedded into it.
Magnus’ “Road to Destiny”TM
This came about after Magnus had received several wristbands for the extension sessions. He brought those home, lined them up, and calls it his road to destiny, getting an additional one every day.
The lesson plan is fairly straightforward and has very clear checkpoints that the coaches build upon making sure that the learner masters the skill before moving on to the next set.
They get taught pool entry and exit styles, floating variations, breathing exercises, survival swim techniques, and stroke dynamics.
It’s quite the sight to see your kid letting go of “fear” habits in favor of comfort in the water – because really that’s what you’d want to impart onto them – a level of comfort that allows them to think while in significant water depth… at least until you want them to go all swim team and then it becomes a matter of speed and efficiency in the pool XD
We observed significant increase with Magnus’ comfort in the pool just in the 3rd day which was quite amazing coming from just floating on the first day. He initially scrubbed his face each time he resurfaced from the pool and this behavior too had minimized. Overall, his evaluation was that he’d masterd around 2/3rds of the techniques required to move up to the next “Jammer” level. He has enough survival skills now and we can either re-enroll him for more tehnique OR let him practice for a bit before revisiting this clinic for “re-ranking”
Equipment Recap:
For Magnus’ goggles we got the biofuse
for his kickboard we got a simple one like this from a sports shop – you could also get one from toy shops apparently
for his swimwear we appended it with a pair from speedo
we got a swimcap for him as well, but this didnt see much use because none of his mates had one on
we also got a protective case for the goggles and cap
Batch 2 – for the BLSS at Novotel begins today Apr21
Batch 3 – May 6
Batch 4 – May 20
Batch 5 – June 4
Batch 6 – June 22
Classes are from 7am – 11am in the morning (4) and 2pm – 5pm in the afternoon (3)
