Summer for my family means fun, vacations and, many trips to the pool! We all want our kids to have a safe and happy experience around water, so if you haven’t started thinking about swim lessons now is the time to start! The better your kids swim, the safer your summer will be.
Finding the right swim instruction for small children can be tricky, but I’ve been lucky enough to try out and observe a couple of Oklahoma Swim Academy‘s different programs. I was so amazed with how professional and efficient their staff was and how much fun my daughter had at their class.
Oklahoma Swim Academy (formerly known as Let’s All Swim) was established in 2010 and trains each instructor in Infant Aquatics methods. The goal of OSA is to make it a happy and fun experience for the kids while promoting learning and growth. Their passion is to provide confidence and skill in all of their students; they want them to be excellent swimmers that really enjoy the water. OSA’s dedication and love for the children is apparent in their interactions with each student!
Oklahoma Swim Academy offers a couple of different programs to fit different ages and skill levels. Their first program is a Parent and Tot class. This class is for babies as young as 4 months all the way up to 28 months. My 22 month old daughter and I got to enjoy this class. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and my daughter can be a bit hesitant, but our teacher was so kind and fun! She started singing with the kids and instructing me, the mom, on exactly what to do. During this 25 minute class my daughter practiced kicking, scooping water, floating on her back, holding on to the wall and even was able to put her face under water a couple of times all without a single tear. She was laughing and smiling and didn’t want to stop! I was surprised with what all she could pick up on so fast and how much she enjoyed it.
When kids are walking and comfortable with the basic skills of floating and breath control in the water, Oklahoma Swim Academy offers private swim lessons for 15 minutes at a time. Infants and toddlers start in the Survival Program where they learn to self-rescue in case they fall in the pool, then move on to Swim-Float-Swim lessons which teaches them to swim freestyle short distances while rolling to their back for rest and air in between. This provides a foundation for swimming traditional strokes as well as allowing a child that falls into a pool the knowledge and ability to be able to get themselves to the edge or to the steps safely.
I was able to observe a three year old practicing the Swim-Float-Swim technique. She had no idea she was learning a life saving skill. She had been doing lessons for a little while so the instructor had her on a floating platform to start. They would sing a song and she would fall off into the water and then pop right back up and Swim-Float-Swim to the side of the pool smiling and asking to do it again! I was so impressed with another instructors ability to connect with her students. When one little guy was more fearful, the instructor made sure not to push him. She was able to coax him and talk to him where he was eventually enjoying his swim lesson also!
As children get older and progress, they move on to the Intermediate Program which gives an overview of the strokes, then finally Stroke Development, which refines the strokes and focuses closer on technique. The instructors have over 100 hours of training and are lifeguard and CPR certified. OSA also works with kids that have had near drowning experiences, special needs children, and they have adult classes too!
Private Swim lessons are offered Monday through Friday at Lighthouse Sports and Fitness Gym in OKC and at Key Fit Club in Edmond. All classes and programs are offered year-round in indoor heated pools. Open enrollment is starting now!
If Oklahoma Swim Academy sounds like something you and your child would be interested in, check them out! If you are unsure about what class would be best for your child, contact them and they can find the perfect program! Oklahoma Swim Academy is a great fit for any kid and will teach them life saving skills that will last them forever.
