Swimming Lessons at Home 372.ch Geneva Swimming Classes

Learning to swim is a profession, take advantage of an experienced and child-oriented team. From 6 months.

Practice swimming at home with a sports coach

Having a swimming pool at home is fun with friends and children during the summer months.  Your pool can be a place to relax, play or do more sporty activities such as swimming, aquagym or aquabiking.

But beware of the dangers and accidents inherent in a swimming pool, especially in terms of drowning.

This is why, in order to be reassured and safe, it is essential that your child can swim. If they are not old enough to swim, it is important that they have the basic swimming skills and reflexes to be able to turn over onto their back or reach the shore if they fall into the water.

What qualifications should a sports coach or swimming instructor have for private lessons at home? 

There are many advantages to having a qualified coach at home, especially when it comes to learning or improving swimming.

Competent, qualified and experienced, your sports coach and swimming trainer ensures maximum results and safety. 

He or she will establish a climate of trust and ensure a privileged contact with your child.

Diploma 

In Switzerland, the lifeguarding diploma is compulsory, but not the teaching diploma. 

Several steps are necessary to have a solid foundation in water safety, rescue and teaching.

The most popular Swiss diploma is the Brevet Pro Pool for which the training time is 11.15 hours.

Do you want to become a professional pool supervisor? No problem with the Brevet Pro Pool of the SSS! Take advantage of the many years of experience of the SSS in the field of water safety. The Pro Pool Certificate provides in-depth theoretical and practical knowledge for the daily work of a pool supervisor or lifeguard. The acquired knowledge is further developed through practical exercises.

Content

Potential risks of different client groups. Improvement of swimming and diving technique. Pool rescue techniques. Taking cover in case of suspected back injury. Rescue equipment. Knowledge of common illnesses (e.g. diabetes, allergies, epilepsy, etc.).

This diploma is necessary but the training is still incomplete for teaching children to swim.

Indeed, it does not train sports coaches, instructors and swimming trainers in "how to learn to swim". It does not train on the pedagogical and technical aspects and on the transmission of knowledge.

This is why many sports coaches and lifeguards complete their training in France.

The diploma and the training course in France are longer and more complete.

This training - BPJEPS ANN - takes place over 12 to 24 months, with internships and practical training.

Created in 2010, the BPJEPS aquatic and swimming activities is now one of the main diplomas for swimming professionals. This diploma gives a certain versatility and thus allows :

Supervise swimming pools
Teach swimming to schools
Give private lessons
Leading leisure activities such as aquagym, baby swimmers or prenatal swimming
There are several teaching units, the main ones being

UC 1 - Supervise any public in any place and any structure

UC 2 - Supervise all types of public in any place or structure UC 2 - Supervise all types of public in any place or structure UC 3 - Design a session 

UC 3 - Design a session, a cycle of animation or learning in the field of Aquatic Activities and Swimming

UC 4 - To use the techniques of Aquatic Activities and Swimming to implement a session, an animation or learning cycle in the field of Aquatic Activities and Swimming

At 372, we want the best for your children, which is why for home swimming lessons we require that our instructors have completed both Swiss and French training.

Furthermore, our sports coaches or swimming trainers regularly exchange information with each other about private swimming lessons at home.

They talk about the situations they encounter in relation to the level of the children and the games they play.

This exchange of experience is essential for the ongoing training of our sports coaches specialising in home swimming.

  

Human qualities and pedagogy of your personal trainer

Our team is made up of people who are passionate about swimming and enjoy working with children. Our coaches are always focused on the child, the approach is above all human. There is a great deal of affection and even more with water, which is a source of joy, games and also fear.

Not everyone will become a swimming champion!

And that's just as well. But swimming instruction is still very important, because children learn to feel good in, under, near and with water.

They can then enjoy moving around in it and learning different key elements such as breathing, gliding, floating and propelling themselves.

Each child will then develop their skills at their own pace.

Your sports coach and swimming instructor will establish a relationship of trust with your child, in a known environment, and without the external disturbance of public pools. A real bond is created. The trust your child has in the instructor has a direct impact on their learning. This confidence acts as an accelerator of progress and even more so in the aquatic environment.

The fact that your child is in a known pool will be an asset for him/her. He or she feels reassured from the start and the link with the swimming instructor is also simplified.

Then, a very important point and a fundamental difference compared to group lessons or in a municipal pool: the instructor is in the water with your child.

For a swimming lesson, being in the water with your child and in your private pool immediately facilitates the relationship between your child and his or her instructor. There is a closeness and a bond that is automatically created. The private sports coach is at the same level as your child.

Your child is automatically more reassured and feels more at ease.

We always listen to your child, his fears and his feelings. Each exercise can be modified and adapted according to your child's progress and receptivity. The attitude, the behaviour. And the communication channels are also adapted to your child so that he/she can assimilate the instructions and movements as well as possible.

Private swimming lessons at home allow us to specifically target your child's needs. If they already have a basic knowledge of swimming, their technical progress will be faster.

In terms of pedagogy, our swimming coach speaks directly to your child and not to a group. He uses simple words with lots of images.

The child's imagination is a powerful teaching tool.

Playing with air" is an important learning stage in swimming. The following exercises are a fun way to work on the conscious movements of breathing in and out.

Stand in a circle in the water holding hands. Start inflating an "imaginary balloon" with your mouth. As the balloon inflates, the circle gets bigger. Move backwards until the balloon bursts, and then drop onto your back.

Drive a boat (ring = steering wheel) through the pool (water at chest height) and imitate the sound of the engine with the mouth (bubbles in the water).

Walk forward with your hands, imitating a crocodile, using your legs to crawl. If necessary, put your head underwater. Dive underwater and swim through a hoop or through the legs of a friend, still using the crawl.

Working with children in water requires patience, empathy, flexibility and a certain amount of fantasy. The use of metaphors simplifies the work, as children integrate explanations and corrections better when they can relate them to their own experiences.

In addition to imagination, our learning method is playful, based on a lot of games and exchanges with the swimming instructor.

Being in the water allows us to explain a gesture and to demonstrate it directly.

 

Technical and sporting skills of your swimming teacher

For swimming lessons in a private pool and for your children, it is not necessary that the instructor is the best swimmer. 

The most important thing is to be at the child's level, to know how to pass on knowledge, to be focused on the child and his needs.

Then the technical aspect comes into play, which all our personal trainers master. They are able to swim and teach the four strokes - crawl, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.

Before acquiring these four techniques, one must first master the fundamentals which are : 

Getting used to the water, mastering the water
The objective is to evolve without fear in water thanks to the adaptation of the sensory organs to this natural element. This learning phase is carried out in the water at shoulder height or with a wall or a person for support.

Breathing
Breathing is used to regulate the buoyancy of the body. The position in the water and the body's functions depend on breathing. Active exhalation in the water, in the prone position, is very important. It is done through the mouth or nose. Inhaling is only done through the mouth. Exhalation in the water is practised during the familiarisation phase and is a real part of the learning content from the start. It becomes more important when floating comes into play. This "play with air", i.e. the ability to breathe in and out in a controlled manner, is an important step in the learning process.

Floating
Floating involves the position of the head, arms and legs. Arms out to the side help with balance on the stomach and back, especially for the little ones. For older children, whose centre of gravity is below the lungs, the difficulty lies in the legs, which tend to sink. These children can perform the exercises with their arms stretched out above their heads. Another variation is to place the arms under the head (cushion), with the elbows in the water.

Slide
The prerequisite for good movement in the water is to find a position that allows you to glide. Whether on the stomach or on the back, the position of the arms during the gliding phase is essential: they must be tense while holding the head. The hands are placed just under the water, the face, in the prone position, is directed downwards and slightly forward. On the back, the ears are under the water, the gaze is directed upwards and slightly towards the toes. A correct head position facilitates floating and gliding: the neck and head are in line with the spine and the neck remains relaxed if possible.

Propelling yourself
From the gliding positions, the children freely perform the first swimming and 

swimming and propulsion movements. The results are very different from one swimmer to another: the "dog swim" is often found, the paddling of the hands in the dorsal position, often associated with alternating beats of the legs, as well as circular movements of the arms, horizontal in front of the body, and vertical beside the body. These movements are not very effective for propulsion.

Which swimming course for your level and age

The length of your pool and your level will determine the type of training you do.

From the person who is afraid of water to the experienced swimmer, everyone will find happiness in swimming at home.

Our sports coach and private swimming trainer adapts the session to your level and physical condition. We bring the necessary equipment.

 

Aquaphobic

Your children are growing up, they will spend more and more time in the water, in the pool, in the lake, in the sea...

You can't go where you have no footing.

You transmit your fear consciously or unconsciously.

You get angry with your children when you are afraid for them.

You feel anxiety when you see them doing things that seem dangerous to you, when they jump from the pontoon to the lake, when they play and romp on the pedal boat...

Perhaps you recognise yourself in part in these few lines?

These are natural and primary human feelings that are linked to fear and anxiety.

Water phobia is one of the forms that phobia can take. Fear of water is a common phenomenon: one person in five does not feel comfortable in water.... Willpower has nothing to do with this disabling condition because, although the person is unable to do so, they really want to swim.

Manifestations of this fear of water

Fear of drowning, of being splashed, of getting wet, of losing one's footing in the deep, fear of "things" that come close, such as fish, seaweed, fear of sharks or jellyfish (sometimes quite justified!)...

Reassuring and teaching an aquaphobic person to swim requires a certain pedagogy and knowledge that is not covered in the basic training.

This is why Mathieu has taken additional training to enrich his knowledge. In our team, he is the aquaphobia referent.

Here again, the fact that you are at home, in your own private pool, will reassure you from the start. You will feel more confident.

The course of a session can be as follows:

To build new reference points in the water, we work mainly on 3 fundamental notions: BALANCE - BREATHING and PROPULSION (with particular emphasis on the first 2) and we take the time to set up progress paths.

Feel that you are floating, let yourself be carried by the water, relax, understand the water in order to use it better, no longer resist with our earthly reflexes, learn to manage your breath.
The situations and exercises proposed in a progressive chronology will allow you to reach these objectives and are the key to many "unblockings".

In a secure context, in a friendly and warm atmosphere, the approach is always "gentle". There is no question of forcing you to do exercises that seem too difficult! The work done is progressive, which implies regular participation. 

The approach is friendly and personalised, we cannot tell you at the beginning where you will be in 10 sessions, that would not be serious on our part. However, what is certain is that you will have great satisfaction in seeing your progress each week, in regaining your self-confidence in the water (this sometimes helps to regain your self-confidence!), and in understanding and feeling the "water" element. It's not just children who can make wonderful progress! The key is your desire to achieve this (whatever your past traumas) and our know-how to accompany you. 

 

Baby swimming from 6 months to 3 years

This is one of the rare parent-child activities that can be practiced from the first months of your life. 

It is a magical moment of sharing. The first movements of your baby in the water will be unforgettable.

The pleasure of the child evolving in an aquatic environment in complete safety and that of his parents.

The beneficial influence of aquatic activity on the child's psychological and motor development

Safety, especially for parents whose children regularly swim in a swimming pool, lake or sea, as we are unfortunately never safe from an accident.

Baby swimming lessons are very important for your child's development. It will allow him to become familiar with the aquatic world and to perceive water as a positive and familiar element. All the things that you put in place and that he/she discovers during this phase will be a time-saver in his/her future learning.

Your swimming instructor will bring special toys and teaching aids to your private pool. These will stimulate your baby with objects that float, splash, sink and are of different colours.

We also have mats with holes that let a little water through, so your baby can lie or sit on the mat while playing with the water.

The immersion mat is also very interesting, as it allows progressive entry into the water.

Water is the most stimulating element for your baby. All his senses are stimulated. 

It is a liquid element in which your baby develops kinesthetic sensations through touch. The water trickles and slides over the body. Currents can be created; these are things that the child will feel in a pleasant and unconscious way. The water will flow over his little legs or arms when he moves them.

The water makes a noise when you tap on it, when you splash and flap with your legs and arms. This will stimulate his hearing through different sounds. You can empty a watering can or a bucket and create new sounds.

Visually, water is also very interesting because it shines, reflects light, there is movement, foam, bubbles. 

Kinesthetic, auditory, visual all this awakens and stimulates.

Then your baby floats and is weightless in the water, which allows him to move his whole body and limbs easily and without constraint.

This will facilitate his motor development.

The water temperature should be at least 30 degrees, ideally 32-33 degrees. The body cools down 24 times faster in water than in air because water is much more conductive than air. Therefore, your baby will lose heat to water 24 times faster. At this age, babies' thermoregulatory systems are imperfect.

It is therefore very important to check that your baby is not cold by looking at the colour of his lips and the colour of his skin.

A baby swimming lesson at home will last a maximum of 30 minutes. It is important to stop the session before your baby gets cold so that he/she still has a positive final experience.

 

In conclusion, we can say that water is a very stimulating element for your baby, his first contacts with water and the familiarization that follows are very important because beneficial for later. These first baby swimming sessions will indirectly condition your child's relationship with water.

You will share a special moment with your child, in an environment that will remind him of the first months of his life in his mother's womb.

These are unique, magical moments.

 

Children from 3 to 8 years old

This is an important time for the child to gain confidence.

We help them to feel at ease and take into account their fears and blocks.

 The child will then feel listened to and will gain confidence more easily to decide to go beyond his limits.

The child evolves at his own pace, our goal is to encourage him to move forward and progress.

Objectives: 

- Overcome fears

- To become autonomous

- Take their time and progress at their own pace

- Enjoy the water, have fun and want to come back to the class

- Have the confidence to do the exercises alone (jumping in the water, floating on the back...)

- Learn to swim independently while adapting movements and breathing

These objectives will be achieved progressively, step by step and at your child's pace. These are private swimming lessons, at home, in your pool. It is therefore tailor-made.

For these age groups, the difference in development between two children of the same age can be significant. Each child will progress at his/her own pace. 

This is why our instructors are constantly adapting the swimming lessons with different teaching methods.

4-swimming lessons

Knowing how to swim" means being autonomous in the aquatic environment, i.e. moving independently (without material assistance) for as long as possible in all dimensions of the aquatic space

From this situation, we can start learning to swim.

FROM THE EARTHY TO THE LOSS OF FOOTING OVERCOME THE FEAR OF THE AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT
Transform your representations (fill yourself with water) 
accept to immerse oneself  
Accept to move away from the edge  
Accept to go to great depths with solid supports  
Agree to open your eyes  
agree to open the mouth  
Agree to enter into a relationship with the bottom
Dive vertically: with footing without footing  
Immerse by leaving the verticality  
Immerse for longer and longer periods of time  
Immerse deeper and deeper
Replace foot supports with hand supports  
Move around with less and less solid hand supports
balance by leg action
At the end of this stage, the child is able to move in deep water with manual support and without apprehension: - enter (without running with 2 fries) move away from the shore: move 10m with a fry or a water line.

FROM LOSS OF FOOTING TO FLOATING BODY
Lose all solid support 
Move alone for a short distance using arms and/or legs
Accept to move underwater for longer and longer periods Launch into the deep water and return to the shore
Transform representations (I am sinking) 
Be relaxed Increase immersion time/discover the bottom
Accept the absence of movement underwater and on the surface  
relate breathing to buoyancy
move from oblique to horizontal balance  
Move from ventral to dorsal balance in different forms or productions  
experience balances in different volumes  
accept to link different balances
At the end of this stage, the child should be able to move in deep water without support. Move about ten metres (small dog), act underwater, descend with assistance touch the bottom with the hand. Let yourself rise to the surface without acting in different positions, enter by the feet while jumping.

Advanced swimmer and sports training

Swimming is one of the most complete and joint-friendly endurance sports. It involves the cardiovascular and muscular systems while developing coordination. 

Your course will alternate between free training and learning your technique in the three Olympic strokes: breaststroke, backstroke and crawl using specific exercises.

Depending on the size of your pool, we can use a static swim band. This is attached at the waist, which frees up your arms and legs, so you can do your leg and arm movements freely.

Resistance training is excellent for developing your power.