Levels


Seahorse Swim School Levels

Little Fish (3 - 5 years old)                 Big Fish (6 - 10 years old)

Little Fish Level 1: Water Adaptation

 

· Safely enter and exit water

· Comfortable splashing hands and kicking feet

· Breath holding with controlled release out of water

· 'Washing' face

· Submerging face

· Opening eyes under water

· Blowing bubbles with eyes out of water

· Wall Crawl

· Comfortable with assisted jump into pool with brief mouth submersion

· Advancement Skill: comfortably blowing bubbles with lower face submerged

· Advancement Skill: Wall Crawl 3 yards and safely exit pool

 

Little Fish Level 2- Bubbles

 

· Breath hold with slow release- mouth and nose submerged

· Full face submersion with bubbles

· Opening eyes under water- recognizing objects

· Face down, prone float with assistance

· Assisted bobs with controlled air exchange

· Comfortable with assisted jump into pool with full submersion

· Advancement Skill: 5 assisted bobs with brief breaks (comfortably)

· Advancement Skill: Wall Crawl 5 or more yards and safely exit pool

 

Little Fish Level 3- Floating

 

· Unassisted bobs

· Prone float with support (5 sec minimum)

· Back float with support (5 sec minimum)

· Push off wall to prone float position reaching for instructor

· Push off instructor to float position reaching for wall

· Unassisted jump into pool with full submersion- instructor will aid in recovery

· Assisted exiting pool without stairs

· Advancement Skill: 5 consecutive bobs with controlled air exchange

· Advancement Skill: Push off wall to prone position to instructor 1 yard away

 

Little Fish Level 4- Front Glide

 

· Prone glide from wall to instructor 2 yards

· Prone glide from instructor to wall 2 yards

· Flutter kicking from hip

· prone glide with recovery

· Superman prone glide with kick

· Unassisted bobs with hands in streamline

· Unassisted back float (minimum 3 sec)

· Unassisted jump into pool into prone float

· Assisted exiting pool without stairs

· Advancement Skill: Prone glide 2 yards with kick and recovery

· Advancement Skill: 3 consecutive bobs with hands in streamline

 

Little Fish Level 5- Back Glide

 

· Push from wall into back glide

· Push from wall into back glide with kick from hips

· Roll over back to front glide

· Roll over front to back glide

· Assisted eggbeater

· Unassisted jump into pool to prone kick and rollover to back

· Exiting pool without stairs (minimal assistance if needed)

· Advancement Skill: Front glide with kick 5 yards roll onto back

· Advancement Skill: Back glide with kick 5 yards then roll onto front

 

Little Fish Level 6- Learning to save myself

· Unassisted eggbeater

· prone kick with rollover breathing

· porpoise to wall

· back kick from wall with recovery and porpoise return to wall

· Intro to ready position start into streamline

· Assisted side kicking with intro to side breathing

· Exiting pool without stairs unassisted

· Advancement Skill: Unassisted eggbeater 10 seconds

· Advancement Skill: 7 yards prone kick with rollover or side breaths

 

Little Fish Level 7- Intro to Freestyle

· 'Ready Position' take offs into streamline

· Dolphin kick

· Side position kicking

· Side position kick with breath

· 6-kick-switch with breath and single arm circle

· 6-3-6 with side breathing

· Freestyle with side breath every 3rd stroke

· Unassisted jump into pool into freestyle

· Porpoise into handstand

· Unassisted eggbeater extend from 10 to 30 seconds

· Advancement Skill: 6-kick-switch 10 yards with side breathing

· Advancement Skill: Ready Position into streamline dolphin kick 5 yards

 

Little Fish Level 8- Intro to backstroke

· Freestyle swim with breath every 3rd stroke

· 'Ready position' into back streamline

· Dolphin kick on back

· Extended eggbeater

· Back 6 -kick switch with hands down

· Back 6-kick switch with single arm stroke

· Backstroke swim

· Assisted front summersault from porpoise

· Sitting dive

· Advancement Skills: 10 yards free swim with side breathing

· Advancement Skills: 10 yards 6-kick switch with stroke on back

 

Little Fish Level 9- Adv.of Free & Back

 

· Extended freestyle swim from streamline with breath every 3rd stroke

· Extended backstroke swim from streamline with full stroke

· Unassisted porpoise to handstand

· Free swim into assisted front somersault

· Object retrieval from bottom of pool

· Propulsive dolphin kick 10 yards (can lift head to breath)

· Eggbeater unassisted minimum 30 seconds

· Kneeling dive (if have access to water minimum 6 feet deep)

· Intro to butterfly arms

· Advancement Skill: 25 yards free swim with side breathing

Advancement Skill: 12.5 yards backstroke sw

Little Fish Level 10- Swimming

 

· Increased endurance in freestyle swim with side breathing

· Increase endurance in backstroke

· Eggbeater 1 minute

· Intro freestyle flipturn

· Intro to backstroke stroke count (if flags available)

· Increase butterfly swim to 12.5 yards

· Intro breaststroke

· Exit Skill: 50 yards freestyle with side breathing every 3 (flip-turn optional)

· Exit Skill: 25 yards backstroke

· Exit Skill: Butterfly 12.5 yards

· Exit Skill: Breaststroke 12.5 yards (close doesn't have to be fully legal)

Big Fish Level 1- Water Adaptation

· Comfortable splashing and being splashed

· Breath hold with controlled release out of water

· Wall Crawl

· Comfortable with movement in water

· Face submersion

· Opening eyes underwater

· Blowing Bubbles with face in water

· Assisted bobs with controlled air exchange

· assisted jump into pool with partial or full face submersion

· Advancement Skill: 3 consecutive assisted bobs with controlled air exchange

· Advancement Skill: Wall crawl 5 yards or more to stairs and safely exit

 

Big Fish Level 2- Floats and Glides

· Assisted prone float

· Assisted back float

· Unassisted bobs

· Unassisted prone float (minimum 3 sec)

· Unassisted back float (minimum 3 sec)

· Streamline bobs

· Jump in and prone float

· Assisted forward flutter kick form hips

· Assisted forward dolphin kick from hips

· Advancement Skill: Unassisted front float or glide 5 sec

· Advancement Skill: Unassisted back float or glide 5 sec

 

Big Fish Level 3- Hip Kicking and Proper take offs

· Ready position take offs into streamline

· Prone glide with flutter kick and recover

· Back glide with flutter kick and recover

· Prone glide with dolphin kick and recover

· Back glide with dolphin kick and recover

· Porpoise to wall

· Porpoise to assisted handstand

· Front skull

· Assisted eggbeater

· Unassisted jump into pool into prone float or glide with recovery

· Advancement Skill: Ready position take off into prone streamline with kick 3 yards

· Advancement Skill: Porpoise to assisted hand stand

 Big Fish Level 4- Intro to strokes Free and Back

· Side position flutter kick with lead arm and side breathing

· 6-Kick switch freestyle with side breathing

· 6-3-6 freestyle drill with side breathing

· 6-Kick switch on back with hip snap (no arm strokes)

· 6-Kick switch on back with arm stroke

· 6-3-6 back stroke drill

· Dolphin dives

· Assisted front flip

· Eggbeater with front skull

· Unassisted jump into pool with forward side kick and recover

· Advancement Skill: 10 yards free 6-Kick switch with side breathing

· Advancement Skill: 10 yards back 6-Kick switch with stroke

· Advancement Skill: 3 consecutive dolphin dives

 

Big Fish Level 5- Freestyle

· Ready position take off into 'downhill' streamline that is submerged 5 yards

· Breakouts- proper transition from streamline into stroke

· Unassisted porpoise into handstand

· Freestyle swim with side breathing every 3 strokes

· Forward front skull from prone float

· Intro to freestyle flip-turn

· Sitting dive (if have access to water 6ft or deeper only)

· Backstroke swim

· Eggbeater unassisted minimum 30 sec

· Advancement Skill: 12.5 yards of proper free swim from proper take off with streamline

· Advancement Skill: Sitting dive into streamline with proper breakout into free swim

 

Big Fish Level 6- Backstroke

· Increase distance of proper freestyle swim to 25 yards

· Proper take offs into underwater backstroke streamline 5 yards

· Backstroke breakouts- proper transition from streamline to stroke

· Proper backstroke swim minimum 12.5 yards

· Backstroke stroke count (if have access to flags)

· Intro to backstroke flip-turn (if have access to flags) otherwise continue free turns

· Eggbeater 1 minute unassisted

· Kneeling dive

· Advancement Skill: minimum 12.5 yards of proper backstroke from proper take off with streamline

· Advancement skill: 25 yards freestyle swim with proper start, streamline and breathing

 

Big Fish Level 7- Butterfly

· Freestyle swim 37.5 yards with flip-turn

· Backstroke swim 25 yards

· Body Dolphin motion with no pull or kick- proper breath

· Windshield wiper skull in prone float

· 3 consecutive fly arm stroke(s) with body dolphin-no breath no kick

· 3 consecutive fly strokes with body dolphin and breath on last stroke

· Superman propulsive dolphin kick minimum 15 yards quick breath lifting head

· 3 consecutive fly strokes with body dolphin and kick with breath on 3rd stroke

· 6 consecutive fly strokes breathing every other stroke

· Compact dive (if have access to 6ft deep water)

· Advancement Skill: 50 free swim with flip turn

· Advancement Skill: 6 strokes of proper fly, breathing every other with proper take off and streamline

 

Big Fish Level 8- Breaststroke

· Backstroke swim 37.5 yards (with flip-turn if have flags)

· Intro to two-hand finish

· Butterfly swim 25 yards breathing every other stroke

· Breaststroke kick hands on wall

· Breaststroke kick without wall

· Breaststroke pull and breathing (start and finish in superman)

· Breaststroke swim with proper timing

· Intro to open/touch turns

· Stride Dive (if have 6ft deep water)

· Advancement Skill: 25 yards butterfly swim

· Advancement Skill: 12.5 yards breaststroke swim with legal or almost legal kick

 

Big Fish Level 9- IM (Individual Medley) 

· 100 yards swim of freestyle breathing every 3 strokes with flipturns

· 50 swim of butterfly

· 75 swim of backstroke with flipturns

· 25 yards swim of breaststroke

· Proper stroke transitions/turns in IM order

· Continuation of work on Stride Dive

 

· Advancement Skill: 100 yards swim freestyle with flipturns

· Advancement Skill: 100 yards swim in IM order with proper turns

 

Big Fish Level 10- Intro to Competitive

· Further drills for each stroke as well as drill progression

· Intro to how to use a pace clock

· Intro to swimming a set

· Intro to build/ pace/ sprint

· Intro to ascending and descending a set

· Intro to checking heart rate

· Intro to maintaining stroke count

· Intro to race starts off the diving block (if deep water and diving block available)

 

· Advancement Skill: 100 yards swim freestyle with flipturns

· Advancement Skill: 100 yards swim in IM order with proper turns

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