I left my place of employment with a National swimming school during the lockdowns. I didn't like the curriculum and decided I wanted to go out on my own again as a mobile swimming teacher. Being accountable only to myself meant I had the freedom to teach how I wanted, teach kids I wanted to teach and engage with parents that were actively interested in getting their kids swimming.

I'd done a lot of reading and research during the lockdowns and was keen to start applying my knowledge to my classes but soon became frustrated when the rain and cold weather put everything onto the back burner...again. That's the thing with me, when I get frustrated and depressed I get creative. Instead of writing songs and poetry, I decided to write a book.

Learn to Swim the Australian Way is my attempt to put everything I have learnt over the last two and a half decades as a swimming teaching onto paper. I wanted to share my knowledge and my passion for swimming with as many people as I can. I have become convinced many teachers do not know* they are teaching improper technique and the (future) effect it will have on proper form. I really want to change that and I want to help improve the industry and outcomes of ALL swimmers, not just the ones I teach.

In general terms, my series is broken down into 4 levels. It does not matter what age you start the levels (I recommend over the age of 3yrs at least) but you must start at Level 1. I've used the progressive building block method for each of the strokes etc and broken each stroke into its simplest form of a skill, with 21 skills to learn per book. Gradually, depending on how much time the learner swimmer invests in learning each skill, the student progresses through the levels and they build the stroke by building on each skill.

The book is written using self-affirming text, catchy names for each skill and visual & verbal cues.

Read - Action - Attention - Memory - Thinking - Repeat.

I encourage parents to read the book to their child and where possible have the kids read the book to themselves.

* watered down knowledge of teaching swimming, not being aware of proper swimming technique and how to correct it. No apologies if this offends you, form matters :)

www.BornToSwim.com.au

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