Swimming

Give your child a head start on learning to swim. The Lifesaving Society Preschool program develops an appreciation and healthy respect for the water before these kids get in too deep.

In our basic aquatic progressions we work to ensure 3 to 5-year olds become comfortable in the water and have fun acquiring and developing a foundation of water skills. We incorporate Lifesaving Society Water Smart® education in all Preschool levels.

We've organized the content of each level like this:

• Entries and exits
• Surface support
• Underwater skills
• Swim to Survive® skills
• Movement / Swimming skills
• Fitness
• Water Smart® education

As an integral part of the Swim for Life® program, Water Smart education provides information and experiences that helps participants make smart decisions when in, on and around water and ice.

Preschool 1: We encourage the parent to participate until their child lets them know they can do it themselves (thank you very much). These preschoolers will have fun learning to get in and out of the water. We'll help them jump into chest deep water. They'll float and glide on their front and back and learn to get their faces wet and blow bubbles underwater.

Preschool 2: These preschoolers learn to jump into chest-deep water by themselves, and get in and get out wearing a lifejacket. They'll submerge and exhale underwater. They'll also glide on their front and back wearing a lifejacket.

Preschool 3: These youngsters will try both jumping and a sideways entry into deep water while wearing a lifejacket. They'll recover objects from the bottom in waist-deep water. They'll work on kicking and gliding through the water on their front and back.

Preschool 4: Advanced preschoolers will learn to do solo jumps into deeper water and get out by themselves. They'll do sideways entries and open their eyes underwater. They'll master a short swim on their front wearing a lifejacket and gliding and kicking on their side.

Preschool 5: These youngsters get more adventuresome with a forward roll entry wearing a lifejacket and treading water for 10 sec. They'll work on front and back crawl swims for 5 m, interval training, and get a giggle out of whip kick.

The Lifesaving Society's 6-level Swimmer program makes sure your children learn how to swim before they get in too deep. Swimmer progressions accommodate children 5 years and older including absolute beginners as well as swimmers who want to build on the basics.

We stress lots of in-water practice to develop solid swimming strokes and skills. We incorporate Water Smart® education in all levels.

We've organized the content of each level like this:

• Entries and exits
• Surface support
• Underwater skills
• Swim to Survive® skills
• Movement / Swimming skills
• Fitness
• Water Smart® education

As an integral part of the Swim for Life® program, Water Smart education provides information and experiences that helps participants make smart decisions when in, on and around water and ice.

Swimmer 1: These beginners will become comfortable jumping into water with and without a lifejacket. They'll learn to open their eyes, exhale and hold their breath underwater. They'll work on floats, glides, and kicking through the water on their front and back.

Swimmer 2: These advanced beginners will jump into deeper water, and learn to be comfortable falling sideways into the water wearing a lifejacket. They'll be able to support themselves at the surface without an aid, learn whip kick, swim 10 m on their front and back, and be introduced to flutter kick interval training.

Swimmer 3: These junior swimmers will dive and do in-water front somersaults and handstands. They'll work on 15 m of front crawl, back crawl, 10 m of whip kick, and increased flutter kick interval training.

Swimmer 4: These intermediate swimmers will swim 5 m underwater and lengths of front, back crawl, whip kick, and breaststroke arms with breathing. Their new bag of tricks includes the completion of the Canadian Swim to Survive® Standard. They'll cap it all off with front crawl sprints over 25 m and 4 x 25 m front or back crawl interval training.