Swim Academy – Lessons
The South Shore YMCA Swim Academy programs offer the area’s very best in water safety education and recreation, with Swim Lessons from infant to adult. Learn to swim for enjoyment, or work towards swimming competitively.
Parent & Child
| Level | Ages | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| Water Discovery & Water Exploration | 6-36 Months | 30 Minutes. Designed to teach parents to work safely in the water with their child. Introductory skills include pool safety, water acclimation, floating, gliding with support, submerging, and blowing bubbles through mouth and/or nose. Songs and games keep classes moving and fun. |
| Water Independence | 2-4 years | 30 Minutes. For children who have trouble transitioning from parent to teacher, this course allows for the child to learn the more advanced skills of Level 1 with a 1:1 ratio between parent and child. |
Preschool & Youth
| Level | Preschool | Youth | Overview |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | 3-5 years | 6-12 years | 30 Minutes. Focused on building confidence in the water, this course teaches how to enter and exit the pool safely, putting face in, blowing bubbles, and bobs. Ready position, pools rules and water safety are also introduced. |
| Level 2 | 3-5 years | 6-12 years | 30 Minutes. Swimmers build on the skills learned in Level 1, focusing on floating on front and back. They will learn gliding, streamline position, kicking and rolling from front to back float. Swimmers continue work on pool safety and rules as well as confidence. |
| Level 3 | 3-5 years | 6-12 years | 30 Minutes. Swimmers build proficiency with front and back glide, continue flutter kicks, breathing control and rotary breathing prep. Swimmers will be able to jump in the water, push off the bottom, return to the wall and safely exit the pool at this level. |
| Level 4 | 3-5 years | 6-12 years | 30 Minutes. Building on the skills learned in Levels 1-3, this level will build proficiency in freestyle, rotary breathing and backstroke. Treading water, sitting dives into a streamline position will continue, maintaining focus on safety and confidence. |
Stroke School & Swim Squad
| Level | Age | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| Stroke School Level 5 | 6-12 Years | 40 Minutes. Swimmers will be introduced to the breaststroke and become more proficient in freestyle and backstroke. They will have more in depth practice with kneeling and standing dives as well. This level will continue to work on safety and confidence of each swimmer. |
| Stroke School Level 6 | 6-12 Years | 40 Minutes. Swimmers will continue work on freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke and be introduced to butterfly. Swimmers will perform standing dives and be introduced to open turns and flip turns. Safety and confidence will continue to be a focus of the program. |
| Mini Strypers | 6-12 Years | 60 Minutes, 2 times per week. This is a swimmers first experience with YMCA competitive swim program. It is also for the swimmer looking to build their aerobic capacity and stroke knowledge to continue swimming as exercise for life. Swimmers will learn further good stroke and practice habits in all four competitive strokes as well as starts and turns. |
| Swim Squad | 6-12 Years | 60 Minutes. This will focus on building the strength and endurance of the swimmer's stroke through drills, multiple laps, and on-deck coaching. Swim Squad will allow swimmers to get the feeling of being on a swim team without the competition and be able to further their skills to be fit swimmers now and in the future. |
Teens & Adult Swim Lessons
| Program | Age | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 11-18 Years | 60 Minutes. For pre-teen and teen swimmers who may not wish to swim competitively but wish to improve form and technique. |
| The Basics | 13+ | 45 Minutes. For teens and adults who consider themselves non-swimmers or wish to overcome a fear of the water, this program will help gain basic aquatic skills and swimming strokes. Includes water acclimation, floating, front/back crawl and backstroke. |
| Technique Improvement | 13+ | 45 Minutes. Improve your crawl stroke, backstroke and breaststroke as well as treading water, diving and endurance swimming. |
Private/Semi-Private Swim Lessons
- Ages 3-Adult
- 30 Minutes
Private lessons are a great way to work on specific, participant-directed goals with devoted attention from an instructor. The SSYMCA offers one-to-one private lessons in 30 minute sessions for members and non-members ages 4 and up. Semi private lessons (two participants to one instructor) are also available.
Private Swim Lesson Information FormReady to register for swim lessons?
View our program listings to find the swim lesson and water safety program that is right for you. View Program Listings