Learn to Swim is our swimming development programme and is based on the Amateur Swimming Association’s National Plan for Teaching Swimming and is carefully structured at each level to get the best out of the swimmers.
Non-swimmers of 4 years and over can join the club. However, if our learner groups are full, then non-swimmers will be placed on a waiting list and we will contact you when we have a space.
We try to make learning to swim fun and we often teach children to learn through play but in the learner groups, we concentrate mostly on the basics of swimming and water safety and as confidence, strength and ability increase, we teach the children technique.
The decision of when a swimmer is ready to progress to the next group is based on the skills acquired, confidence and fitness. Children who attend regularly will normally make faster progress though so we urge parents to bring their children to each session when they can. As technique and fitness improve, those wanting to compete have the chance to represent the Club in swimming galas and open meets.
These sessions are usually run on Wednesday evenings, more details of times and fees can be found on the Sessions page but if you would like more details about spaces, please contact us.
Squads and Training
The club structure is divided into three:
- Intermediate Squad
- Junior Squad
- Senior Squad
Coaching is used to help swimmers improve all aspects of their swimming, including stroke technique, starts, turns and gaining fitness.
The Intermediate, Junior and Senior Squads train under our Head Coach, Stephen Pyne, with the help of a dedicated band
of teaching staff, poolside helpers and committee members, all of whom have given up their time to gain qualifications in the teaching and coaching of the sport. The training of these squads is based around improving fitness, stroke skills and speed so that our swimmers can take part (if they wish) in inter-club galas, open meets and the County Age Group Championships.
Swimmers are assessed by the coaches and teachers and usually assigned to a particular squad based on their ability, stamina and age.
The squads train on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings – check out the times and fees on the Sessions page but if you need more information about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.