What it is
A Level 1 testable skill: the swimmer goes underwater unassisted, lifts feet off the ground to float or suspend, then recovers to standing (finding footing) without assistance.
Essentials
- Swimmer lifts feet off ground while underwater, floats or suspends, then recovers to standing without assistance.
- Finding footing after going underwater is a learned skill.
- Frequent, enthusiastic, playful underwater throughout the lesson — not a single time.
- Pool: chest deep for 3–4 years old; zero-depth sides or platforms in pools beginning at 3.5 ft.
- Instructors acknowledge fears and tears but do not drop everything for one tearful child; invite to join, then move on.
- Instructors constantly encourage swimmers to push into the next step in a progression.
Progression
- Go underwater unassisted (prerequisite — must be established first).
- Go underwater, then recover to standing on own (this skill).
- Supported front float with face in water.
- Supported back float with ears in water.
- Supported front glide progression.
- Supported back glide progression.
Steps 3–6 are concurrent Level 1 testable skills; instructors should know the incremental underwater progression, supported front glide progression, and supported back glide progression.
What goes wrong
- Swimmer only puts chin or mouth in water rather than the full face. Watch for partial submersion (front of head only, no ears or back of head).
- Swimmer crunches down into a ball (squatting vertically) instead of extending the body.
- Swimmer panics and struggles to stand up after coming up from underwater.
- Swimmer does not know how to rotate the body backwards on its center of mass to return to upright.
- Swimmer does not know how to use hands to push water to regain footing.
How you know it worked
Swimmer lifts feet off the ground while underwater, floats or suspends, then recovers to standing (finding footing) without assistance.
How you teach it
The goal is joyful exploration of buoyancy. Once going underwater loses its scariness, swimmers will joyfully go underwater and start exploring on their own with bold glides, jumps, and dips. Supervisors should look for tears and hesitation and keep an eye out for scared swimmers as they initially leave their parents. Provide smiles, reassurance, and confidence. If absolutely necessary, let parents walk the swimmer to the edge of the pool and then exit quickly to the viewing area. Instructors acknowledge fears and tears but do not drop everything to focus only on the tearful child; invite to join, then move on.
During supported front glides (hands on shoulders), the instructor asks the swimmer to kick and put face in the water, using the appropriate incremental underwater progression step: chin, lips, nose, eyes. Instructors should know command language and remove "ok" from sentences.
Watch how the swimmer goes underwater: are they putting the whole face in, or just the chin and mouth? Are they submerging the full head or only the front? Watch the body: are they crunching into a ball or extending? Watch the recovery: do they know how to rotate backwards on their center of mass to stand upright, or do they panic and struggle? For adult learners, the recovery is often the pain point rather than the submersion itself — they can put their face in the water but do not know how to stand up or use their hands to push the water. Build the recovery explicitly before expecting the full skill to emerge on its own.