“I'm not afraid of the water,
I just can't Swim.”

If you’re comfortable in water but don’t know any of the strokes, we’ll start by teaching you solid fundamentals in the four competitive strokes: Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly. This class progression is also for you if you can do strokes like breaststroke or side stroke, but you can’t get the “face in the water” breathing down to do freestyle and the other strokes confidently. Effective swimming strokes come from your core (not your shoulders), so we’ll work on mastering The Big 3 in each of the four strokes: balance, body rotation/undulation and whole body movements.

The goal of the following sequence is for you to create a platform of comfort and relaxation in the water and then learn the basics of smooth and efficient swimming strokes. At the conclusion of the Basic Track, you can move on to more advanced swimming tracks for fitness swimming or triathlons. Your track is (click on any class for a more detailed description and registration):

• Basic Track: Swimming Foundations
  • Level 2:  Advanced Swimming and Safety Skills (Freestyle/Backstroke Foundations)
  • Level 3:  Stroke Development I (Freestyle and Fitness Strokes)
• Advanced Track 1: Triathlon
  • Freestyle 1
  • Freestyle 2
  • Freestyle 3
  • Open Water Skills
  • Triathlon Swim Training
• Advanced Track 2: Fitness Swimming
  • Level 4:  Stroke Development II (Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly)
• Level 5:  Stroke Refinement, Starts, and Turns I
• Level 6:  Stroke Refinement, Starts, and Turns II (Swim Training Essentials)

We’ve taught many students using this track including Melody, a woman who was comfortable in the water, but couldn’t swim. She began with the Swim Mechanics 101 sequence in November 2006, and by the end of Summer 2007, she had finished two triathlons. In December 2007, she completed our Hour of Power Postal Swim, swimming 2,750 yards in an hour. In Summer 2008, she swam an Olympic distance triathlon swim (1,500 meters) in under 33 minutes.