Pre-Competitive Program

Why try swimming?

• Swimming develops wonderful cardiovascular endurance, the most important key to physical fitness.
• Swimming participants really do participate – all swimmers are busy for the entire length of the practice session. Swimmers at different levels of competence all participate fully and equally during practices. No bench sitting, time-outs, or intermissions.
• Swimming is the best sport in terms of proportional muscular development.
• Swimming enhances children’s natural flexibility by exercising all major joints through a wide range of motion. Swimming develops superior coordination by requiring combinations of complex movements of all parts of the body.
• Swimming is the freest of all youth sports.
• Swimming is a sport that will bring children fitness and enjoyment for life… no one will ever be too old to enjoy a swim.

Starlets

Practices emphasize basic competitive stroke instruction and fun water activities. Pre-Competitive swimming provides a stair-step between lessons and the competitive swim team, and although many children take the course with no intention of becoming competitive swimmers, they do become stronger and more confident swimmers. This program is excellent for those swimmers who want to take the next step in perfecting technique. This program operates at our Thornhill location in 25 meters, 6-lane pool.

Our focus is technique in the four competitive strokes, which are freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Skills are broken down into kicking and drills identifying key components and then put back together into full stroke.

Swimmers are taught flip turns, transitions from one stroke into another and dives. Although this program is non-competitive, from time to time swimmers are encouraged to embrace competition, learning to race for the fun of it.