Top swim school needed
#17
Re: Top swim school needed
HaHa... I can see you with the whip out now!
I know your frustration. My boys should be good swimmers and started out very well when they were young. They have definitely gone backwards since moving to Australia. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I do think there is in some situations a laziness towards teaching. I also don't take them swimming as often as I should, but they certainly won't listen to me!
There is also an anti UK style of teaching attitude. I certainly don't feel they are interested in stamina at the beginner level, which I feel is very, very important. If you haven't got the strength or ability to swim 15m with a very basic stroke or even a torpedo, why on early do teachers insist on using freestyle catch up with kickboards, especially when their faces are looking up. I hate it.
One place where I taught kids were given a 5m stretch to swim in and they could put their feet down the whole way. Ridiculous!
In the UK I have come from the kids being taught Breast Stroke first. No such luck here, which is silly as it is a great safety stroke and one that I try to teach kids once they are independent swimmers. They are even taught butterfly before breast stroke, for goodness sake.
BTW if your son is swimming with a bent leg, it is a normal and developmental. If you want to improve his flutter kick use flippers (or fins) and only let him swim with those on. They are used to improve kick as it is virutally impossible to use them with a bent knee.
Oh, I could go on and on. So feel free to rant away. I'll join in!
I know your frustration. My boys should be good swimmers and started out very well when they were young. They have definitely gone backwards since moving to Australia. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I do think there is in some situations a laziness towards teaching. I also don't take them swimming as often as I should, but they certainly won't listen to me!
There is also an anti UK style of teaching attitude. I certainly don't feel they are interested in stamina at the beginner level, which I feel is very, very important. If you haven't got the strength or ability to swim 15m with a very basic stroke or even a torpedo, why on early do teachers insist on using freestyle catch up with kickboards, especially when their faces are looking up. I hate it.
One place where I taught kids were given a 5m stretch to swim in and they could put their feet down the whole way. Ridiculous!
In the UK I have come from the kids being taught Breast Stroke first. No such luck here, which is silly as it is a great safety stroke and one that I try to teach kids once they are independent swimmers. They are even taught butterfly before breast stroke, for goodness sake.
BTW if your son is swimming with a bent leg, it is a normal and developmental. If you want to improve his flutter kick use flippers (or fins) and only let him swim with those on. They are used to improve kick as it is virutally impossible to use them with a bent knee.
Oh, I could go on and on. So feel free to rant away. I'll join in!
My daughter learnt to swim in the UK. We came to Australia 3 years ago and she continued with her lessons. Her technique and expertise went on the fast track and she improved astonishingly quickly under Australian coaching which was significantly different from the UK appraoch.
My twin boys learnt to swim in Oz and again, their technique is near perfect although they are only 6 years old.
I do concede, however, that a lot of it is down to the individual teacher. I should also mention that they take their lessons in Redcliffe where the international coack Ken Walsh trains several of the Australian international team, and his methods are adopted by the other swim teachers working there.
#18
Re: Top swim school needed
My kids go to Gullivers in Comera and i would highly recommend them....The kids are doing great there and each teacher they have had have also been great too
#19
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 106
Re: Top swim school needed
I have just witnessed the biggest balls up of a class ever, so this will give potential teachers a taste of how infant classes can go.
My class has 2 four year old fairly advanced swimmers, just about ready to do freestyle laps. A new kid was booked into the class (I assume not assessed) , not on my list of swimmers and could just about swim 2m. So I said no way, the class level is too high, she will need to go with the other teacher.
Well, while I was saying all of this, parents in the other class were letting their kids climb/jump off the ladder into the pool without any supervision by the other teacher as she was dealing with a 2 year old who had been deemed a fantastic swimmer by mum and was crying his eyes out poor lad and jumping off the platform to get away from her (this is a deep pool) , of course none of these kids could swim and they all went under one after the other like lemmings. Mums frantically flapping at the instructor, who couldn't quite juggle the 4 kids with a death wish, one of which was special needs!
We were pretty pissed off by the end of this, it was bedlam. The 2 year old has been moved to my P&B class, so fingers crossed it will be less stressful all round next week.
My class has 2 four year old fairly advanced swimmers, just about ready to do freestyle laps. A new kid was booked into the class (I assume not assessed) , not on my list of swimmers and could just about swim 2m. So I said no way, the class level is too high, she will need to go with the other teacher.
Well, while I was saying all of this, parents in the other class were letting their kids climb/jump off the ladder into the pool without any supervision by the other teacher as she was dealing with a 2 year old who had been deemed a fantastic swimmer by mum and was crying his eyes out poor lad and jumping off the platform to get away from her (this is a deep pool) , of course none of these kids could swim and they all went under one after the other like lemmings. Mums frantically flapping at the instructor, who couldn't quite juggle the 4 kids with a death wish, one of which was special needs!
We were pretty pissed off by the end of this, it was bedlam. The 2 year old has been moved to my P&B class, so fingers crossed it will be less stressful all round next week.
Last edited by Weird Fish; Apr 24th 2009 at 3:26 am.
#20
Forum Regular
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 106
Re: Top swim school needed
I agree, I have no opinion really on which is best, different school, different teachers etc all have their own way of doing it.
I guess it is horses for courses. We cannot say with certainty which method of teaching swimming is the best. Certainly Australia has produced more world class swimmers over the past 50 years than the UK, and coaching techniques come into play here.
My daughter learnt to swim in the UK. We came to Australia 3 years ago and she continued with her lessons. Her technique and expertise went on the fast track and she improved astonishingly quickly under Australian coaching which was significantly different from the UK appraoch.
My twin boys learnt to swim in Oz and again, their technique is near perfect although they are only 6 years old.
I do concede, however, that a lot of it is down to the individual teacher. I should also mention that they take their lessons in Redcliffe where the international coack Ken Walsh trains several of the Australian international team, and his methods are adopted by the other swim teachers working there.
My daughter learnt to swim in the UK. We came to Australia 3 years ago and she continued with her lessons. Her technique and expertise went on the fast track and she improved astonishingly quickly under Australian coaching which was significantly different from the UK appraoch.
My twin boys learnt to swim in Oz and again, their technique is near perfect although they are only 6 years old.
I do concede, however, that a lot of it is down to the individual teacher. I should also mention that they take their lessons in Redcliffe where the international coack Ken Walsh trains several of the Australian international team, and his methods are adopted by the other swim teachers working there.
#21
Re: Top swim school needed
My daughter was at a swim club in the uk and was getting very dispirited as when she had made good progress in the younger squads she was moved to the competitive squad and there were often 20 swimmers in a lane and only one or two coaches for the whole pool- 6 lanes. She was not picked up on her technique at all and really struggled with fly. She was often punched/pinched and bullied by girls who would overtake her and then slow down to less speed than she had been swiming at. She got so dispirited that she almost gave up.
Then we came to Oz and she started at the school club. what a difference! the coaches were fantastic and took her fly to pieces. In 7 months she has gone from being one of the slowest in the senior squad to representing the school at the IGSSA's and came home with the tropy for being the most improved swimmer in the club. She knocked 20 seconds off 50 m fly!! she also got to the speedo sprint finals for backstroke. The Aussie method of coaching is so much better IMHO.
Then we came to Oz and she started at the school club. what a difference! the coaches were fantastic and took her fly to pieces. In 7 months she has gone from being one of the slowest in the senior squad to representing the school at the IGSSA's and came home with the tropy for being the most improved swimmer in the club. She knocked 20 seconds off 50 m fly!! she also got to the speedo sprint finals for backstroke. The Aussie method of coaching is so much better IMHO.
#22
Re: Top swim school needed
Miami Swimming Club at Miami Olympic Pool, Pizzey Park, 80 Pacific Avenue, Miami is probably the best on the coast. It's where Grant Hackett and Giaan Rooney, amongst others, trained.
#23
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Gold Coast, Qld
Posts: 334
Re: Top swim school needed
Moneypen i can always rely on you !! Thanks i'll take a look at Miami