Floatation aids vs No Aids - What will progress your child's skills faster?
Flotation, a brief history
Before the 1980s, flotation was scarcely used in learn-to-swim programs across Australia.
From the late 1980s through to the late 1990s, floatation aids were used frequently within Learn to Swim programs. In the mid-2000s, Learn to Swim Programs started to steer away from floatation aids towards swimming unaided.
What works currently
How do children learn to swim?
Swimmers learn to swim fastest by regularly practising swimming skills in an environment that tests and extends their skills. Swimmers need to be comfortable in their swimming environment, and they need to trust their instructors. If swimmers are too complacent or comfortable, they will become active and only push or extend themselves. Swimmers placed in stressful situations will need help to learn effectively.
Using Floatation Aids
Swimmers can swim in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Swimmers can concentrate more on their skills and practice great stroke technique and independent movement in the water from a very early age. One of the downsides is that the children have added buoyancy and aren’t swimming in a natural position in the water. Children may also become lazy and reliant on the aids.Swimmers can swim in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Swimmers can concentrate more on their skills and practice great stroke technique and independent movement in the water from a very early age. One of the downsides is that the children have added buoyancy and aren’t swimming in a natural position in the water. Children may also become lazy and
Our approach to flotation
We opened in September 2001. At the time, we subscribed to a learn-to-swim system using many floatation aids. In July 2008, we established the Swim and Survival Academy with the sole purpose of providing the best learn-to-swim program in the world. We designed our program based on years of experience alongside the best ideas from the numerous international, national and state learn-to-swim and competitive swimming conferences that management and staff have attended.
Over the last five years, we have progressively changed our programs from the previous more “floatation aid” based system to one that is now a fine balance between swimming-aided and unaided. We are constantly reassessing and tweaking our program so that we can achieve the following:- “We would all love our kids to learn to swim in a relaxed, comfortable environment where the kids get a lot of swimming practice, but they are also swimming without aids to establish a natural body position in the water while also being tested and extended every week without excessive stress.”
We thank our parents for their feedback and support over the years in helping us develop what we believe is the best Learn-to-swim program available.
Using No Floatation Aids
Swimmers can get a better and more realistic feel of the water and swim in a more natural body position, enabling swimmers to develop their stroke technique naturally. One of the downsides of teaching children to swim without aids is that in the early stages of learning to swim, children require additional support as they have limited to no skills.
The instructor must be hands-on with the children and take them out individually for every practice. Progression will slow if all five swimmers in the class require hands-on attention for every activity. Swimmers establish good skills but need more exercise at the drills to learn quickly. Suppose the teacher allows a novice swimmer to swim unaided without the teacher assisting them. In that case, children would be left in not only a dangerous situation but also a very stressful situation.
A stressed child will go into “fight or flight mode”, where they are not thinking about their actions but doing whatever it takes to get to a point of safety. A child with this stress level will not be listening or learning in class as they are too busy concentrating on surviving. The child may also react naturally to the stress, such as crying, withdrawing from the teacher or not wanting to attend swimming lessons. A little bit of pressure is useful to help children progress, but there is a fine line between a little bit of stress and survival mode.
So which is best?
Both ways are effective methods of learning to swim in collaboration.
Too many floatation aids cause laziness; swimming unaided is slow and stressful for the kids. From a parent’s point of view, we would all love our kids to learn to swim in a relaxed, comfortable environment where the kids get a lot of swimming practice. Still, they are also swimming without aids to establish a natural body position in the water while also being tested and extended every week without excessive stress.
We thank our parents for their feedback and support over the years in helping us develop what we believe is the best Learn-to-swim program available.