Swimming 5 Metres Independently
You will often hear your Teacher mention that first 5 metre swim. Why? Well believe it or not, we get just as excited and proud as you do when each little swimmer achieves that swim. It's an amazing moment, which often follows a lot of hard work from these young swimmers and lots of patience from Parents and Teachers but once it's achieved the speed at which they go on to further distances is quite incredible.
What is a 5 metre achievement?
It's quite simply putting all the learnt past skills together into a completely independent swim on their front, for a distance of 5 metres across the pool. In addition they need to demonstrate the ability to lift their head and take a breath twice in that swim.
Well for those of you with that moment still to come, here is a little video clip of young Amelie's proud moment.
Most common questions that we are asked by parents
At what age can I expect my child to achieve that swim?
Now as you know, all children are unique therefore often do it at different times, however what we can say is on average a child that has started swimming at a year old or less is likely to be swimming independently between 3 & 4 years of age. Our youngest was actually 1 year 11 months and many do it before their third birthday.
What can we do to encourage swimmers to achieve their 5m?
Body position
Most often when a child first masters lifting their head to breath, this can bring their body out of the prone (flat) swim position they need to get across the pool.
A great way to help them is to start with a push and glide and look at your toes or the bottom of the pool to help keep their bottoms up.
Paddling
Often when a child lifts their head up to breathe they stop paddling.
As we have always chanted paddling is 85% of their propulsion so make sure as they lift their head, they keep moving their hands to sustain their swim. Using their hands in paddling to push themselves up is also a great way to aid their head coming up out of the water and take a breath.
Confidence and Patience
Toddlers are a sensitive lot and can quickly pick up on our frustration. Try not to compare too much on other children's achievements as every child is different and will do it in their own time. It's also likely they will achieve this swim when you least expect it! Try to focus on all the positive points of each attempt to swim plus be on hand to support them if they lose momentum. Lifting their head often causes the most apprehension so maybe take a step back and practice lifting up their head on the spot. Remember lots of praise is often the key!
What comes after 5 metres?
Once your child can swim 5 metres, they will be invited to join our amazing child programme where we can introduce them to all key strokes, building them into strong, confident swimmers in Front Crawl, Breaststroke, Back Stroke and Butterfly!! Add in to that some snorkelling, riding water scooters and rescue skills swimming in our pyjamas and you will struggle to get them out of the water!! Would you believe us when we say your child can be experiencing all these things before they even start any swimming at school and for some before they have even joined Reception.
Quite amazing when you consider that National Curriculum states that a child should be able to swim 25 metres by age 11 and sadly only 1 in 3 is achieving that!!!
