Swim for Life Program at a Glance
There are five modules in the Lifesaving Society Swim for Life® Program:
PARENT & TOT 1,2,3 for parents and children up to 3 years of age
PRESCHOOL 1,2,3,4,5 for children 3-5 years
SWIMMER 1,2,3,4,5,6 for children 5 years and older
ADULT SWIMMER 1,2,3 for people over 16 years
FITNESS SWIMMER is for swimmers of any age who want to improve their overall physical fitness.
The Lifesaving Society designed the modules so that they flow together seamlessly. You can program them independently or you can see in the Programming Flow Chart here you can program them all so that they flow logically into each other and on into the basic lifesaving awards: Rookie, Ranger and Star Patrol.
Content is organized as follows:
* Entries and exits
* Surface support
* Underwater skills
* Swim To Survive Skills
* Movement/Swimming Skills
* Fitness
Parent and Tot 1,2,3
Spend quality time with your child while you both have fun and learn and socialize. Through structured in-water interaction between parent and child, we stress the importance of play in developing water-positive attitudes and skills. We provide Lifesaving Society Water Smart® tips on keeping your child safe in any aquatic setting. Certified instructors provide guidance and answers to your questions.
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
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. Because activities and progressions are based on child development, parents register in the level appropriate for their child’s age.
Parent & Tot 1: Designed for the 4 to 12-month-old to learn to enjoy the water with the parent.
Parent & Tot 2: Designed for the 12 to 24-month-old to learn to enjoy the water with the parent.
Parent & Tot 3: Designed for the 2 to 3-year-old to learn to enjoy the water with the parent.
Preschool 1,2,3,4,5
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 old’s 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
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 try floats on their front and back, and glides on their side.
Preschool 2: These preschoolers learn to jump into chest deep water by themselves, and get in and get out wearing a Personal Flotation Device. They’ll submerge and exhale underwater. While wearing a Personal Flotation Device they’ll glide on their front and back.
Preschool 3: These youngsters will try both jumping and a side roll into deep water while wearing a Personal Flotation Device. 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 side roll entries and open their eyes underwater. They’ll master a short (3-5 m) swim on their front and gliding and kicking on their side.
Preschool 5: These youngsters get more adventuresome with a forward roll entry wearing a PFD and holding their breath underwater for up to 10 sec. They’ll work on longer front and back crawl swims, interval training and get a giggle out of whip kick.
Swimmer 1,2,3,4,5,6
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
Swimmer 1: These beginners will become comfortable jumping into water with and without a Personal Flotation Device. 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 Personal Flotation Device. They’ll be able to support themselves at the surface without an aid, learn whip kick, swim 10-15 m on their front and back, and be introduced to flutter kick interval training (4 x 9-12 m).
Swimmer 3: These junior swimmers will dive and do in-water front somersaults. Their new bag of tricks includes handstands and completion of the Canadian Swim to Survive Standard. They’ll work on 10-15m of front crawl, back crawl and whip kick. Flutter kick interval training increases to 4 x 25 m.
Swimmer 4: These intermediate swimmers will swim 5 m underwater and lengths of front, back crawl, whip kick, and breaststroke arms with breathing. They’ll cap it all off with front crawl sprints over 25 m and 4 x 25 m front or back crawl interval training.
Swimmer 5: These swimmers will master shallow dives, cannonball entries, eggbeater kicks, and in-water backward somersaults. Surface dives will take them down to underwater swims. They’ll refine their front and back crawl over 50 m swims of each, and breaststroke over 15-25 m. Then they’ll pick up the pace in 25 m sprints and two interval training bouts: 4 x 50 m front or back crawl; and 4 x 10-15 m breaststroke.
Swimmer 6: These advanced swimmers will rise to the challenge of sophisticated aquatic skills including stride entries, compact jumps and lifesaving kicks like eggbeater and scissor kick. They’ll develop strength and power in head-up breaststroke sprints over 25 m. They’ll easily swim lengths of front crawl, back crawl, and breaststroke, and they’ll complain about the 300 m workout.
Adult Swimmer 1,2,3
Whether you’re just starting out or just want help with your strokes, our Adult Program is for the young at heart – no matter what your age. Set your own goals. Work with certified instructors to learn to swim, or improve your current swimming ability and water fitness.
You won’t be going to the Olympics, but you’ll develop water confidence and smooth recognizable strokes good enough for lane swimming and fit enough for the beach. We incorporate Lifesaving Society Water Smart® education in all Adult 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
Adult 1: You’ll work towards a 10-15 m swim on your front and back. You’ll do jump entries from the side and recover an object from the bottom in chest-deep water. Improve your fitness and your flutter kick with 4 x 9-12 m interval training.
Adult 2: Kick it up a notch working on two interval training workouts of 4 x 25 m kicking and front or back crawl. You’ll be able to perform dive entries and demonstrate breaststroke arms and breathing over 10-15 m. You’ll be supporting yourself at the surface for 1-2 minutes, and showing off your handstands in shallow water.
Adult 3: No sweat (or at least none anyone can see). You’ll learn eggbeater, stride entries and compact jumps. You’ll be doing a 300 m workout and sprinting 25-50 m. You’ll master your front crawl, back crawl and breaststroke.
Fitness Swimmer
The Fitness Swimmer Program is for swimmers of any age who want to improve their overall physical fitness in the water.
Fitness Swimmer provides a structured approach based on accepted training principles and practices including interval training. Participants set their own goals.
Content:
Pace clocks and timers
Stretches for swimmers
Kicking interval training: 4 x 25 m flutter kick and/or whip kick with 15-20 sec. rests
Swimming interval training: swim interval sets selected by the swimmer
Workout (300 m): 50 m warm-up (choice of strokes); 4 x 25 m front or back crawl with 15 sec. rests; 4 x 25 m (choice of strokes) with 15 sec. rests; 50 m cool-down (choice of strokes)
Workout design: design and demonstrate 2 sample workouts
Distance swim: endurance challenge
Sprint swim: 25 m each for at least 2 strokes chosen by the swimmer
