Monday, January 18, 2010

Swimming Lessons for Your Child

Swimming kids from Pensacola Beach, Gulf Breeze, Pensacola, and all over the southeast spent the last three days competing in the GPAC Winter Swim Meet. A fine time was had by all, even the parents, guardians, and friends who came to watch and cheer. "GPAC" is a confederation of several Pensacola area local swim teams for kids as young as post-toddler age through high school.

This gives us a chance to share a personal view on the tremendous benefits of swimming lessons and competitive swimming for kids of all ages. We highly recommend it.

Drowning deaths are a leading cause of death and injury in Florida. Lessons for young children are imperative, especially for those living in Florida and other locales where backyard pools, beach, and lake swimming opportunities are everywhere.

As for competitive swimming, after almost three years overseeing one child's daily swimming lessons and watching that of other kids from 1 to 18, we can't say enough. It's not only necessary to encourage your child to learn to swim safely, but it's also a fantastic way to enrich their lives, keep them healthy, and teach them good manners and discipline. Especially while watching and conversing with the older kids, we've been amazed at how much more polite, well-grounded, and mature they seem to be than the average high schooler.

We can't emphasize this enough: encourage your children, grandchildren, and other little ones to go beyond beginning lessons and start working out with a team. At The Club in Gulf Breeze, which has an inside pool as well as a full-sized Olympic pool, adolescents as young as four can join a "blue" or "white" team which practices under a trained coach's eye three to five days a week. The price is surprisingly low and the pay-offs are huge.

3 comments:

~Briony said...

If someone has a child that is too young for swim team they could do Infant Swimming Resource lessons. They are survival swim lessons for children 6 months to 6 years old. They teach kids how to save themselves if they fall in the water alone. Babies learn to roll onto their back and float and kids who are walking learn to swim, roll onto their back to float and get a breath, and then swim again until they can get to the side of the pool. It is really amazing to watch. The website is www.infantswimpensacola.com or you can e-mail the instructor at PensacolaISR@hotmail.com.

Teresa Zwierzchowski said...

I think it is great for children to learn to swim - unfortunately, there are no truly affordable options in the Gulf Breeze/Pensacola Beach area for children to learn. The Club has a beautiful facility, but unless you are a member, expect to pay $125 for 4 hours of lessons.

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