PoolSchools Blog

How long have you been swimming with Pool Schools?                 

• Almost a year!

What is your favourite stroke?

• Breaststroke

Why did u choose to start up swimming lessons as an adult?

• When I was younger, I learnt the basics of front crawl and breaststroke and that was it. I have always enjoyed swimming in the sea or at the pool. Recently, I have started going weekly for a Sunday morning swim as well as swimming more often in the summer with my family. This worsened my shoulder problems because I always breathed on the same side and couldn’t swim that many lengths. I came across Poolschools and realised that an evening swimming session could be a fun chance to improve on my swimming and fitness after work.

What has improved most about your swimming?

• My Front […]
  

Most people have e probably heard of Rebecca Adlington, one of the figureheads of British swimming. In 2008, she won Olympic Gold in Beijing in both the 400m and 800m freestyle*, and backed this up with two Olympic bronze medals at London 2012, again in the 400m and 800m freestyle. She also won multiple World Championship, European Championship and Commonwealth Games medals, including as part of relay teams.

In the Olympic 800-metre freestyle final at the Beijing Olympics, she won gold in a world record time of 8:14.10, a full six seconds ahead ofthe silver medalist, and two seconds ahead of the former world record which had been set by Janet Evans and was, at the time, the longest standing world record in swimming. […]

Swimming aids to use on holiday that won’t ruin all the progress made in swim lessons

In our swim lessons, we work on:

• Achieving a horizontal body position (legs up)
• The children to experience their own balance and buoyancy in the water
• Rolling on to their back to rest and breathe when needed.

When on holiday, parents want to use buoyancy aids for their child to be safe around the water. In an ideal world it is best to swim with your child so they do not need buoyancy aids but here are some aids to consider:

Arm bands – encourage the child to be upright which encourages a cycle kick action and face to be out of the water. Limits arm movements. Can be removed easily. Avoid! The best version is arm bands with a body belt (the one pictured is from Decathlon).  They keep them a little more horizontal in the water

1. It makes them safer – just like learning to cross the road safely, learning how to swim is something which could, one day, save your life. There is no other sport which is so important to do – that’s why it is compulsory for every primary school child in the UK to learn to swim.
2. It helps them develop social skills – attending swimming lessons is a great chance to meet new people and make friends outside of school (or work!), especially people you wouldn’t usually mix with. It also helps to add structure to an evening or weekend, and I find it to be a great distraction from the worries of everyday life. I have a whole group of friends from swimming which I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Swimming also allows children to achieve things in a different discipline, for example: […]
   

From Rat Race to Swimming Teacher – Taking the plunge…

Form the outside looking in I had a good job, that paid well, with a company car, that often saw me travelling abroad for work, however, all these things started to lose their shine as it was becoming more and more evident that my morals and ethics did not align with my boss’s, or with the general ethos of the company. I was starting to work fifty plus hours a week, I felt very unappreciated and the mounting workload and stress was starting to take its toll on my heath. So, after a looooonnnggg few months I decided enough was enough, I gave my notice and left!
I had no alternative employment lined up, only a small amount of money in my savings account, and no idea what career I wanted to move into – all I knew was […]