Frequently Asked Questions
Q. How do I join?
A. In most levels of our program, students will be required to have a swimming assessment (babies, toddlers and beginner swimmers will not need an assessment).
Q. What level will my child be in?
A. The other students in the classes booked, will be of a similar age, ability and standard, consistent with their assessment.
Q. What days and times do you have available?
A. We conduct lessons 6 days per week, Monday to Saturday, from 7am to 1pm and then from 2.30pm to 6.30pm. Our office staff will assist you in finding days and the lesson times that suit you.
Q. Are the pools heated and indoors?
A. Yes, our pools are totally indoor and heated to an average of 31.5˚, offering your family year round swimming facilities. Our pool water is checked three times a day for correct chlorine and PH levels. We consistently maintain our pools so they are always in the healthiest condition. The pools are specifically designed for teaching and coaching.
We provide comfortable, heated change facilities, parent viewing area/grandstand, children’s enclosed play area with TV/Video and café.
Q. What do I need to bring along?
| DIPPAS | FLIPPAS | NIPPAS | SQUADS |
|---|---|---|---|
| A snug pair of swimmers or aqua nappies | Pair of swimmers | Pair of swimmers | Pair of swimmers |
| Towel | Towel | Towel | Towel |
| Warm clothes for after the lesson | Cap | Cap & goggles | Cap & goggles |
| No nappies or training pants in pool | No floaties, flippers or goggles required | Flippers from level N3 | Flippers |
| Parent/carer to wear a large T-Shirt over swimmers | Water bottle from level N3 | Water bottle |
Q. Do you offer make-up classes if my child is sick?
A.Yes we do offer make-up lessons. Please carefully read our Policy Information Booklet for full details.
Q. What is the recommended number of lessons each week?
A.We recommend a minimum of 2 lessons as an ideal, manageable, productive amount of weekly lessons in a drowning prevention and learning to swim program. Think of ‘Actual’ swimming lesson time:
One ½ hour lesson per week = only 2 hours swimming time per month. By attending 2 lessons per week, doubles the swimming time to 4 hours per month. Regular, consistent lessons is the only way to re-enforce life saving drowning prevention drills and learn to swim skills. It has been proven that attending 2 lessons each week actually accelerates the learning in a drowning prevention and learn to swim program at 4 times the rate of attending lessons once per week.
Dippas and Flippas FAQs
Q. FLOATIES: Why do we NOT teach Drowning Prevention and Learn to Swim with Floaties?
A. We do not recommend the wearing of floatation aids, for a number of reasons. They give infants and young children a ‘false’ sense of security and confidence in the water. Often, children forget when they are not wearing a floatation aid, and due to false water confidence from the floatation aid, leads to dire circumstances in the aquatic environment. Children who learn to swim with floatation aids also become dependent on them, instead of learning to swim with their own buoyancy. Floatation aids can also make parents more complacent while supervising. Often floaties, back-bubble floats and pool rings can come loose or slip sideways, or, even slip off. It is much safer for an infant and young child, to have a healthy caution of aquatic environments and create their own buoyancy and preventative drowning techniques.
Q. FLIPPERS: Why do we NOT teach Drowning Prevention and Learn to Swim with Flippers?
A. Flippers can also be classed as an ‘aid’. They are unnecessary in the beginning stages of swimming development. In a precarious aquatic situation, a child reliant with the wearing of flippers, when learning to swim, can panic due to dependence from wearing flippers, if flippers are not available. Children need to develop a strong kicking action to develop a high degree of independent water safety. The wearing of flippers, can also encourage an incorrect freestyle kicking action, kicking from the ‘knee’ instead of the ‘hip’ in beginner swimmers, creating an incorrect ‘bicycle’ kick.
Q. BLOWING BUBBLES: Why do we NOT teach Blowing Bubbles to Infants and Beginner Swimmers?
A. One of the most important skills we can teach infants and beginner swimmers for drowning prevention, is BREATH CONTROL – learning to hold our breath when our mouth and nose is submerged in water. Simply, we teach infants and beginner swimmers to hold their breath under water. This practice keeps air inside the lungs, which, in turn, increases buoyancy. If a baby or young child has lungs full of air, they will stay close to the surface easier, buying time in a ‘life threatening’ aquatic situation. Without this skill, commonly, babies, young children and non- swimmers will try and breath in while submerged in water, filling the lungs with water. Blowing bubbles empties the lungs of air. Empty lungs increase the chance of sinking under water faster.
Q. What is the Reflex Action and why do we teach it?
A. The ‘Reflex Action’ or commonly known as ‘Humpty Dumpty’ is a skill practiced repeated until it becomes a ‘Reflex’ in Infants and Young Children. It is the practice of ‘falling’ into a pool, turning themselves immediately around and catching the ledge of the pool. This activity is taught through repetition until the thought process becomes a ‘reflex’. It is another extremely important drowning prevention drill for infants, young children and beginner swimmers to learn.
Q. Why do we do so many Floating and Swim – Flip – Float Drills?
A. These drills maybe the most effective drowning prevention skill to teach infants, young children and non-swimmers. It is a combination of being able to ‘roll’ from their front, with their faced submerged under water, into a floating position on their back. If needed, from this position they can call out for attention. They can also ‘roll’ back to a swimming/paddling position to swim when needed and repeat, for an extended length of time. A baby’s head is 1/3 the size of their total size, so, to ‘lift their head’ for a breath, whilst submerged in water is impossible. Toddlers and young children generally do still not have the neck muscle development or the strength to ‘lift their head’ either.
This skill is particularly important when there is no wall/ledge to swim back to.
Q. Why do we ask parents to wear T-Shirts in Swimming Classes?
A. When beginning to paddle and kick, infants also need to learn to ‘catch on’ to the ledge of the pool, a pool railing etc. Basically anything they are able to pull themselves up onto. When swimming to a parent, we encourage infants to ‘catch on’ to the parent independently, and pull themselves up from the water level. We need parents to wear t-shirts for little ones to hold onto when doing this drill.
Q. Why do we teach under water “Swapping Arms’ before we teach ‘Over Arm’ Freestyle?
A. The most important part of the Freestyle Swimming Stroke is what happens under the water. The effectiveness of the ‘pull’ under the water is what propels the swimming stroke forward. This ‘pull’ or ‘sculling’ is taught to beginner swimmers, so they learn what moves them forward in the water. This drill is continued right through to advanced squad programs. If a swimmer is taught ‘over-arm’ freestyle too early in their swimming progression, before the correct basics have been established, the swimmer will ‘snake’ their body and wrongly ‘cross kick’ their kicking legs to compensate the weakness in the vitally important strong kick and a correct head and body position.
Q. Why is it so important to continue swimming lessons through the winter months?
A. It is vitally important once you start in a drowning prevention and learn to swim program to continue throughout the winter months, as infants and young children under 5 years old do not have a developed muscle memory, as older children and adults do. Basically, there is no way they will remember skills they have been taught in classes when extended breaks occur. Drowning Prevention and basic Learn to Swim is only effective in the ‘Under 5’s’ age bracket, when a consistent, continuous progression is taught, continued and developed. If this progression is haltered, even for periods of 6 weeks, you will see a decline in the comprehension and ability levels with these life saving skills.
Nippas FAQs
Q. Why do we teach ‘Straight Arm’ Freestyle in the Nippa’s Classes
A. We teach ‘Straight Arm’ Freestyle when introducing Freestyle swimming strokes, apposed to a ‘bent elbow’ during the Freestyle stroke’s recovery. We continue this technique until the later stages in our Stroke Correction Program. ‘Straight Arm’ refers to the over-arm recovery in the Freestyle stroke. This technique encourages a full length of stroke. The outdated practice of teaching a ‘bent arm recovery’ or ‘chicken wings’ only promotes children to not complete a full length of stroke, or, a short stroke, making their Freestyle less effective. We introduce a ‘Bent Elbow’ Recovery when children have mastered a full, long length of stroke, are effectively ‘pulling’ through the water with a high elbow (under the water), strong kick and good body and head position.
Q. Why don’t we teach all 4 strokes at once?
A. Like any learning activity, once a set of skills are perfected, you then move onto a more challenging set of skills. Our program has a very effective progression. We invest a lot of time in the ‘basics’ of the swimming. Once a child has excellent water safety skills, we then focus on correct head and body positions and a strong kick (the motor of the stroke) in Freestyle and Backstroke. We then introduce the Freestyle and Backstroke Arm Stroke. Not until these stroking skills are efficient, do we then teach the correct Freestyle ‘Breathing’ to the side. Breastroke kick is then a focus, with the beginning understanding of Breastroke Arms and Timing after the Breastroke Kick is mastered. With a good foundation in Freestyle, Backstroke and Breastroke, Butterfly kick is introduced and lastly the Butterfly Stroke and Timing is developed. Race Dives, Turns and Correct Push-Offs are taught throughout the program.
Q. Why do we teach ‘Short Distance Lessons’ in Nippa’s 1 and Nippa’s 2?
A. We believe in teaching the correct technique with swimming strokes, over a shorter distance, to perfect these techniques. We continue ‘Short Distance Lessons’ until a young swimmer can perform each drill, with efficient technique and a strong kicking action. Swimming longer distances prior to this only creates ‘sloppy’ swimming. ‘Short Distance Lessons’ are also more effective for our instructors to correct children’s technique.
Q. Why do we not teach Bi-Lateral Breathing (breathing every 3rd stroke) until in the advanced stroke correction program?
A. We initially teach side breathing in Freestyle on every 4th stroke only, while the Freestyle Arms and a very strong Kicking Action is developing. We also teach this until the side breathing technique is mastered and effective every 4th stroke. If Bi-Lateral Breathing (breathing every 3rd stroke) is taught prematurely, the young swimmer will ‘snake’ in the water, making the Freestyle Stroke very ineffective.
Q. Why was my child not assessed to begin in Squad, when they were in a Squad at another swim school?
A. It is a trend in a number of Swimming Schools across Australia to promote children to ‘mini’ squads or ‘junior’ squads prematurely. This enables these facilities to have large numbers of children in ‘Mini or Junior Squads’, with 10 to up to 30 children in a ‘Squad’, benefitting only the financial effectiveness of being able to have one ‘Coach’ instructing this large number of swimmers. It is a lot ‘less’ cost effective for us at SUPERFISH to keep children in classes with 1 instructor with a small number of children, until they have developed advanced and efficient stroke techniques in all 4 strokes. However, it is what we believe and know it is the only way for a child to have the best techniques possible, whether they decide to become competitive swimmers, or, as a life skill - being able to swim for the rest of their lives, with good swimming techniques. Your child needs to be able to swim all 4 strokes effectively and with good techniques, BEFORE entering a Squad Program.
