Swim America follows an 11 level system designed to take
children from non-swimming to competition ready. Below is a
synopsis of each level and the key skills taught in each particular
section.
| Levels |
Descriptions |
|
Level 1 - Bubbles
|
- Gradual Water Adaptation
- Breath Holding and Release
- Opening Eyes Underwater
- Bobbing w/ Bubbles and Air Exchange
- Movement in the Water
- Submersion of the Face
- Blowing Bubbles
- 10 Relaxed Bobs
|
| Level 2 - Floats and Glides |
- Front Float, glide and Recover - 5 Seconds
- Back Float, glide and Recover - 5 Seconds
|
| Level 3 - Kicking |
- Porpoising
- Back Kick - 15 Feet
- Front Kick - 15 Feet
- Dolphin Kick - 15 Feet
|
| Level 4 - Front Crawl |
- Rollover -- front to back, back to front
- Finning and sculling
- Crawl Stroke, 20 ft. (no breathing)
- Side-glide-kick, 20 ft.
- Crawl arm stroke
|
| Level 5 - Freestyle |
- Crawl stroke with breathing (30 feet, minimum of 4
breaths)
- Back crawl stroke
|
| Level 6 - Backstroke |
- Swim freestyle 25 yrds.
- Jump in and tread water for 1 minute
- Kneeling dive
- Swim backstroke 30 ft.
- Sitting Dive
- Standing Dive
|
| Level 7 - Breaststroke & Butterfly |
- Breaststroke kick
- Breastroke Swim
- Butterfly arms
- Butterfly swim
- Swim freestyle 50 yrds
- Swim backstroke 25 yrds
- Kick breaststroke 20 ft.
|
| Level 8 - Turns |
- Freestyle with bi-lateral breathing
- Swim freestyle for 100 yrds (using bi-lateral breathing for 25
yrds of the swim)
- Swim 25 yrds Breaststroke
- Swim 30 ft. Butterfly
|
| Level 9 - Lifetime Strokes |
- Swim 200 yrds Freestyle, bi-lateral breathe for 50 yrds
- Sidestroke swim
- Swim 25 yrds Butterfly
- Swim 50 yrds Elementary backstroke
- Elementary Backstroke
- Swim 50 yrds Breaststroke
- Swim 50 yrds Sidestroke
|
| Level 10 - Individual Medley/Graduation |
- Extended swimming and
- Swim 300 yrds Freestyle
- Swim 100 yrds Individual Individual Medley
- Swim 100 yrds Backstroke
- Swim 100 yrds Individual Medley
|
| Level 11 - Stroke Refinement |
- Students who have the above skills and wish to work on stroke
refinement
|