Group Swim Lessons

YMCA Swim Lessons focus on stroke development, personal safety, personal growth, rescue and water sports & games while emphasizing Character Development and the Mission of the YMCA.

Classes with low participation will be cancelled by the Wednesday before the session begins.

Be sure to read the Pool Information and
Swim Lesson Policies.

Ages 6–36 months
This 30-minute class is for children ages 6-36 months and their parents. The primary objective is to get both the parent and child comfortable in the water. Classes are designed to allow the child to have fun in water while the parent guides him/her to learn aquatic skills. Activities are based on the developmental abilities of the child through games that use basic movements in water and guide parents how to teach their child to be safe in and around water.
Ages 3–5 years
	Pike The Pike level helps children develop safe pool behavior, adjust to the water and develop independent movement in the water. It is designed for new swimmers, teaching basic paddle stroke and kicking skills, pool safety, proper use of IFDs & PFDs and comfort with holding the face in the water while blowing bubbles and swimming.
	Eel The Eel level is for advanced beginners reinforcing Pike skills. It is for children who are comfortable in the water. They are taught to kick, dive, float and perform the progressive paddle stroke. They also learn basic boating safety and the use of PFDs. Children can swim across the pool without assistance by the end of this level.
	Ray At the Ray level, children review previous skills, improve stroke skills, learn more personal safety & rescue skills, build endurance by swimming on their front and back, learn to tread water and perform more progressive diving skills. Children can swim across the pool on their front and back without assistance by the end of this level.
	Starfish Children at the Starfish level review previously learned skills and refine their strokes as well as their personal safety, rescue and floating skills. They also learn underwater swimming skills. Children can swim a length of the pool on their front and back at the end of this level.
Ages 6–12 years
	Polliwog Polliwog is the beginning level for school-age children. It gets children acquainted with the pool, the use of flotation devices and floating. By the end of this level, they should know the front paddle stroke, side and back paddle and some synchronized swimming & wetball (water polo) movements. Children can swim across the pool without assistance by the end of this level.
	Guppy At the Guppy level, children continue to practice and build upon basic skills, now performing more skills without the aid of a flotation device. They are introduced to lead-up strokes to the front and back crawl, sidestroke, breaststroke and elementary backstroke. More synchronized swimming and wetball skills are taught as well as some diving skills. Children can swim a length of the pool without assistance at the end of this level.
	Minnow Minnow is the initial intermediate level. The children further refine the lead-up strokes they have learned as their skills become more like those normally used in swimming. They learn more synchronized swimming, wetball, diving skills, personal safety, boating and rescue.
	Fish At the Fish level, students work to perform the crawl stroke, elementary backstroke, back crawl stroke and sidestroke with turns. They are introduced to the butterfly stroke. They continue learning additional synchronized swimming movements, wetball skills and diving skills; they continue learning personal safety, boating and rescue skills; and they are introduced to the use of a mask and fins.
	Flying Fish At the advanced level of Flying Fish, students work on refining their strokes and increasing their endurance. They develop the ability to perform more complex combinations of synchronized swimming movements, learn to dive off a one-meter board and develop better wetball playing skills. They are also introduced to the use of a snorkel and they learn more about boating safety, personal safety & rescue procedures.
	Shark Students at the Shark level continue to improve their strokes, with starts and turns and are introduced to the inverted breaststroke, the trudgen crawl and the over-arm sidestroke. Opportunities are provided for further work on synchronized swimming, wetball and snorkeling, as well as personal safety, boating safety & rescue skills.