We’ve been teaching adults how to swim from scratch for over 20 years, and the most common thing that we hear is that new swimmers are timid about going to the pool to practice. It makes a lot of sense. You are scared of the water, all of the skills…
“Coach Fitz, how long will it take me to learn to swim?” I get that question from prospective adult clients at Chicago Blue Dolphins over and over again. Most adults get their minds set on a far off end goal of swimming a mile of freestyle with rhythmic breathing over…
Last week, I had to clean up and drain the pools for two “poopy” accidents. Because of the time and class disruption that came with this cleanup, I wanted to answer a common question from parents of non-potty trained infants and toddlers: “Why does my child need to wear two…
Last night, I helped coach the last of Lifetime Fitness’ free open water swim clinics for the Chicago Triathlon coming up this weekend. The water temperature in the lake, in the 70s last week, has dropped into the low 60s. Many of the swimmers I led into a sprint distance rehearsal…
My coaching staff and I recently had Cindy Freedman from Swim Angelfish train us in her company’s “Swim Whisperer” method. The name SWIM WHISPERER is an acronym for the 14 road blocks to learning to swim common in children who are autistic or have sensory or physical difficulties. To get more…
It might seem premature to talk about swimming in December, but winter breaks and summer are right around the corner. With the lake and a pool in every neighborhood, it’s important for every child to learn swimming and water safety. Swim lessons teach essential safety skills. Swimming is an activity…
One of the main issues that we hear about with children and adults coming in to learn to swim with us is the fear of deep water. Many will tell us that they are comfortable in the water, just not in deep water. Years of swimming instruction has taught us…
We periodically get questions about whether we teach “survival swimming” to infants and toddlers. The interest is usually driven from watching that viral video of the unattended infant falling into a pool with clothes on rolling to the back, swimming to the wall, and hanging on crying. We don’t teach…
My office manager forwarded on an article from “Chicago Parent” on the use of swim noodles in swim classes. I was about to write a blog post that swim tools don’t teach, teachers do. I was going to take a triathlete angle and pick on my favorite enemies, the hand paddle…
Thank you to our Facebook fan, Sue Stewart, for sending us this link to an article describing the dangers of letting your children swim around boats docked within a marina. The article tells us that current leaking into the water from appliances on the boats can electrocute swimmers, or cause…
