The Door County YMCA offers a range of swimming lessons for children ages 6 months to 16 years old.
Preschool lessons (ages 3-5) allow your child to float solo in a nurturing environment.
Led by an instructor, get in the pool with your child and learn lifesaving information. Build memories through games that teach your child pre-swim skills while achieving comfort in the water. Pre-swim skills include basic water movements such as kicking, arm strokes, and breath control. Focus in this level is on comfort and movement in the water. Technical form is not yet introduced. Swimmer must be at least six months old on the first day of class and be able to control head movement.
Parent & Child Stage A - Water Discovery: accompany your child while they gain comfort in the water and develop essential swim readiness skills through a fun, confidence-building experience. A waterproof diaper required for those not potty trained.
Parent & Child Stage B - Water Exploration: through water exploration and guidance from an instructor, work in the pool with your child on basic swim body positions, floating, blowing bubbles and fundamental safety and swim skills. A waterproof diaper required for those not potty trained.
Learn personal water safety and achieve basic life-saving swim skills.
Stage 1 - Water Acclimation (Preschool & Youth): students develop comfort with underwater exploration and learn to safely exit in the event of falling into a body of water in Stage 1. This stage lays the foundation that allows for a student's future progress in swimming.
Stage 1+ - Water Acclimation (Preschool): a continuation of water acclimation and skills learned in Stage 1. Skills learned focus more on independent movements, as students are now comfortable submerging underwater and simultaneous leg and arm movements without help.
Stage 2 - Water Movement (Preschool & Youth): students focus on the body position and control, directional change, and forward movement in the water while also continuing to practice how to safely exit in the event of falling into a body of water.
Stage 3 - Water Stamina (Preschool & Youth): students learn how to swim to safety from a longer distance than in previous stages in the event of falling into a body of water. This stage also introduces rhythmic breathing and integrated arm and leg action.
Stage 4 - Stroke Introduction (Preschool & Youth): students develop stroke technique in front crawl and learn the breaststroke kick and butterfly kick. Water safety is reinforced through treading water and elementary backstroke.
Stage 5 - Stroke Development (Youth): students work on stroke technique and learn all major competitive strokes. The emphasis on water safety continues through treading water and sidestroke.