How To Choose the Best Swim Instructor for Your Swimming Lessons

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How To Choose the Best Swim Instructor for Your Kids

By Diana Goodwin, President & Founder of AquaMobile – At Home Swim Lessons

When starting swimming lessons, it is important to know that your swim instructor is the best possible choice for your children. Many people are unsure of how to choose the best swim instructor, so here’s a list of what to look for to help you make the right decision.

1) Find an Instructor Who Meets the Certification and Training Requirements

The first aspect you should look for are the specifications of training that the instructor has. Swim instructors should have the following qualifications:

• CPR Certification
• First Aid Certification
• Formal Swim Instructor Training / Certification

2) Make Sure the Instructor has Several Years of Formal Teaching Experience

For swimming lessons, it is essential that the instructor have formal teaching experience.

A lot of people will advertise that they have 15 years as competitive swimmer, or over a decade teaching experience etc. – But this is not good enough. Just because the person has excelled at the sport themselves, doesn’t necessarily make them a good instructor or coach. Or sometimes, the teaching experience is just with a few friends and family members, which really is not a lot of experience over a decade. In many cases they are used to giving informal advice to fellow swimmers who need technique refinement and thus struggle to break skills down into simple steps that are conducive for proper learning.

It’s best if the instructor has two or more years of formal teaching experience to ensure that they are confident and knowledgeable in providing formal swimming lessons. This will help ensure that they have worked with many different student personalities and learning styles, improving their ability to adapt their teaching techniques to get students to learn quickly and effectively.

3) Check That the Swim Instructor is Fully Insured

This is extremely important. Due to cost constraints, many independent swim instructors have no insurance coverage, which can leave you with major liability costs if an incident occurs.

4) Look for Someone with Experience to Meet Your Specific Needs

Make sure the instructor is experienced teaching the age, swim level, and specific needs of your child. You may also be interested in looking for an instructor with specialized skills for your lessons.

Some areas of expertise may want to look for include:

• Experience teaching children with special needs
• Experience in parent & tot lessons or infant lessons
• Specialized in certain skills (diving, synchro, etc.)
• Competitive swim coaching
• Endurance and fitness lessons

Determine what specific learning goals you have for your lessons to find someone who is able to meet your individual needs.

5) Find Out If a Background Check is Available

Consider getting a background check done on the instructor. This is especially important if they are coming to your own home. Knowing that the instructor is trustworthy and responsible will help you feel completely comfortable with the instructor teaching your children.

6) Get a Sense of the Instructor’s Personality Fit with Your Child

Once you know that the instructor is qualified and experienced, the most important quality to look for is a good personality fit between the instructor and the swimmer.

Some aspects of their personality to consider include:

• Does your child respond better to a high energy or calm instructor?
• Are you looking for someone who will be more firm or lenient?
• Do you want a more relaxed or strict lesson plan?

Finding an instructor who your child will enjoy spending time in the water with will make lessons more effective all-round. Having a strong bond between the instructor and child will allow for:

• Eagerness to participate in lessons
• More confidence in the water
• A more fun experience

To make sure you’ve found the right instructor, especially if you are conducting the search independently, make sure you speak with the instructor before the first lesson through a conversation to get a sense of their personality.

AquaMobile does all of these things and more to ensure that our instructors & lifeguards are properly certified and experienced so that clients get the best swim lesson experience possible.

About the Author

Diana Goodwin is the Founder of AquaMobile Swim School, which offers private swim lessons at clients’ own home pools across the United States. You can browse through AquaMobile instructor profiles to help you find the right fit for your child. AquaMobile can be reached at 1-888-950-7946 or info@aquamobileswim.com.