Go underwater unassisted

Go underwater unassisted (skill)

Definition: Swimmer should go underwater without instructor support frequently. Frequent, enthusiastic, playful underwater should happen throughout the lesson; not a single time. Once going underwater loses its scariness swimmers will joyfully go underwater and start exploring more on their own with bold glides, jumps and dips.

Core cues:

1. "Go underwater unassisted"
2. "Go underwater, then recover to standing on own"
3. "lift their feet off the ground while underwater, float or suspend in water, then recover to standing (finding their footing) without assistance"
4. "chin, lips, nose, eyes"

Coach interpretation:

• "Go underwater unassisted": Swimmer goes underwater without instructor support frequently.
• "recover to standing on own": Swimmer should lift their feet off the ground while underwater, float or suspend in water, then recover to standing (finding their footing) without assistance. Finding footing after going underwater is a learned skill.
• "chin, lips, nose, eyes": The appropriate underwater progression step the instructor should be asking the swimmer to put their face in the water with during supported front glides.
• "Instructors should also be frequently going underwater to encourage swimmers to do it too": Instructors must go underwater themselves to model it.
• "Our goal is to ask each swimmer in a lesson around 50 times (30 minutes) to go underwater at their comfort level on the underwater progression": Track how often each swimmer is asked.
• "Watch for instructors that have dry hair, shoulders above water, and quiet": A dry-haired, quiet instructor with shoulders above water is failing.

Teaching strategy:

Level 1 classes should be in shallow water. Chest deep for 3-4 years old is ideal; zero-depth sides of pools, or standing on platforms in pools that begin at 3.5 feet deep. Leverage shallow water: put your classes in the green zone to the left. Adjust benches/platforms for the depth your class is in. If a class is in deeper water give them 2 benches so they can always be standing. For shallower water, 0-3ft then most swimmers 3 and up will be able to stand. Use 1 bench or none. Shallow water makes exploration independent. It is safer; swimmers can stand up. Shallow water for beginners removes a lot of anxiety and fear about being in a large swimming pool.

Instructors should know the incremental underwater progression. Instructors should play games with enthusiasm and excitement. Instructors should also be frequently going underwater to encourage swimmers to do it too. Our goal is to ask each swimmer in a lesson around 50 times (30 minutes) to go underwater at their comfort level on the underwater progression. Swim instructors should balance keeping the swimmers moving using the rotation method and providing one-on-one support. Mix 1-on-1 with group activities/challenges. If you have multiple benches in the water aim them together and have swimmers walk or jump from one to the other. If you have 1 bench, aim it at the wall and use the wall as a pseudo second bench. Ensure that instructors are constantly encouraging swimmers to push into the next step in a progression. Doing supported front glides hands on shoulders, instructor should be asking swimmer to kick and put face in the water with the appropriate underwater progression step (chin, lips, nose, eyes).

Supervisors look for tears and hesitation. Keep on the lookout for scared swimmers as they initially leave their parents. Provide smiles, reassurance, and confidence. If absolutely necessary, let parents walk swimmer to the edge of the pool and then exit quickly to viewing area. Let instructors acknowledge fears and tears, but not drop everything to focus only on tearful child. Invite to join, then move on. Watch for swimmers that do not participate fully and instructors that are not engaging their swimmers. Excessive downtime. We should strive to have swimmers actively engaged in some activity for the majority of the time they are in the lesson. Avoid having long periods of waiting doing nothing.

Common errors and corrections:

• Instructor looming above: If you see swim instructors looming over their swimmers, not kneeling in the water eye to eye, then your instructor is failing. Correct it quickly. The instructors need to be in the water too.
• Dry hair, shoulders above water, and quiet: Watch for instructors that have dry hair, shoulders above water, and quiet.
• Wrong holding for supported front and back glides: It is harder to forget a bad habit than it is to learn how to do it right from the beginning. Enforce correct holding for supported front and back glides aggressively. Wrong holding is bad! Quash wrong holding the moment you see it. Be aggressive to remove poor support technique.
• Swimmer does not participate fully: Watch for swimmers that do not participate fully and instructors that are not engaging their swimmers.
• Excessive downtime: Avoid having long periods of waiting doing nothing.

Progression:

Incremental underwater progression (chin, lips, nose, eyes). Supported front glide progression. Supported back glide progression. Go underwater unassisted, then go underwater, then recover to standing on own. Once going underwater loses its scariness swimmers will joyfully go underwater and start exploring more on their own with bold glides, jumps and dips.

⚠ Language below was not found in the source — do not publish as-is. Most often this means the original sits inside a table or a multi-column layout that extraction could not read cleanly:

• “Go underwater, then recover to standing on own”
• “Our goal is to ask each swimmer in a lesson around 50 times (30 minutes) to go underwater at their comfort level on the underwater progression.”
• “Level 1 classes should be in shallow water. Chest deep for 3-4 years old is ideal; zero-depth sides of pools, or standing on platforms in pools that begin at 3.5 feet deep.”
• “Ensure that instructors are constantly encouraging swimmers to push into the next step in a progression.”
• “Doing supported front glides hands on shoulders, instructor should be asking swimmer to kick and put face in the water with the appropriate underwater progression step (chin, lips, nose, eyes).”
• “Supervisors look for: Tears and hesitation. Keep on the lookout for scared swimmers as they initially leave their parents.”
• “If absolutely necessary, let parents walk swimmer to the edge of the pool and then exit quickly to viewing area.”
• “Let instructors acknowledge fears and tears, but not drop everything to focus only on tearful child. Invite to join, then move on.”
• “Watch for swimmers that do not participate fully and instructors that are not engaging their swimmers.”
• “Excessive downtime. We should strive to have swimmers actively engaged in some activity for the majority of the time they are in the lesson. Avoid having long periods of waiting doing nothing.”

Short verified cues (confirmed present; check by eye): “chin, lips, nose, eyes”, “Wrong holding is bad!”