What it is
Going underwater is a slow, step-by-step progression where learners experience the unique feeling of being submerged. The teacher's role is to safely and gently show the learner that water is different, fun, and exciting while also potentially hazardous.
Essentials
- "Never skip a step of the underwater progression."
- "Go slow. Build step by step: 1 small step after another small step."
- "Earn trust by being consistent, predictable, and safe."
- "Do the careful deliberate work first, then build on trust."
- "Never let go of the swimmer to let them fend alone."
- "Always support the learner with no surprises."
Progression
- Shoulders
- Chin
- Lips
- Nose
- Eyes
- Whole face
- Entire head
What goes wrong
- Skipping steps of the progression — erodes trust; be predictable and consistent.
- Asking a learner to put their chin in the water and then their eyes — never skip from chin to eyes.
- Letting go of the swimmer to let them fend alone — always maintain physical support.
- Surprising the learner — telegraph all actions; demonstrate clearly what will happen by doing it yourself or with another participant.
How you know it worked
Comfort is consistent at each step before moving to the next. The learner moves through the progression without fear or resistance at any increment.
How you teach it
The water is a vastly different place than the child's typical living. On land they can breathe without difficulty, issue, or pain. For a new learner to love being underwater takes time and many joyful experiences. Build smiling joy into every early swimming activity or challenge/game. Play games, sing songs, do things that build the learner's trust and comfort in the aquatic environment.
We want to give swimming learners lots of positive experiences to remember when they confront the discomfort and pain of choking on water. Inhaling water is uncomfortable, scary, and terrifying — it teaches the learner to be afraid of going under. Instead, build positive experiences with going underwater that teach the learner they can hold their breath (or keep their lips closed) and enjoy swimming without the pain and discomfort.
Telegraph all of your actions: demonstrate clearly what will happen by doing it yourself or with another participant. Demonstrate every activity, challenge, game, and song, and do the things too. Smile, laugh, have fun, be involved — your joy and comfort will transfer to the learner.
All activities lead to bravery. All of the supported glides and jumps, challenges and games done in a beginner's swim lesson will echo into the future. The time you take now to be careful and loving will create bravery later. Fun now leads to joy later. The effort you put into the learner's positive experiences doing supported front glides will blossom into excited independent streamlines later. Reach to the next step. Incremental improvements.