About:
I love swimming! Growing up in Western Australia, school curriculum required that all students pass successive lessons each year to advance in grades. Hence my passion for swimming took hold, and is still going strong over 20 years later!
Swimming competitively as a youth lead to years of training
as a successful triathlete team member for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s: Team in Training (multiple Olympic distance events from 2007-2010) & onwards towards being a U.S. Masters Swimmer, where I continue to swim with dedication on the regular. With a deep love of introducing others to the water, I am a U.S Masters Swimming: Level 2 Certified Coach & ALTS (Adult-Learn-To-Swim) Certified Coach with a focused care towards stroke technique and balanced strength.
As a member of USA Swimming & member of the American Swimming Coaches Association ~ I am honored to instill a love of swimming regarding balanced strength, breathing, alignment and stroke technique, to others of any age & skill level.
Private Lesson Services
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Age Appropriate, fun lessons
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Convenient local location & custom schedule
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Better value than group lessons
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Quickest way to learn to swim or to improve your swimming skills
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Lessons adapted to individual needs
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No lesson time wasted
Babies and preschoolers are able to enjoy their first splash in the water, while youth and adults of all ages can work towards improving their swimming skills.
Swimming lessons & instruction are completely customizable and provide a full range of focuses for swimmers of varying abilities.
According to the CDC, 37% of American adults can’t swim the length of a pool, which puts them at risk of being one of the 10 people who drown every day in the United States.
Swimming is helping to save the health and social care system more than £357 million a year, according new British research.
The cost of savings to the NHS are revealed in Swim England’s Value of Swimming report, which outlines how water-based activity is making a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing of the nation.
Now Swim England is calling on the Government and healthcare professionals to ‘maximise the benefits’ swimming can offer to ‘help people live longer, better, happier lives’.
November 2019 ~ In the most comprehensive report of its kind ever carried out by a sporting national governing body, Swim England’s in-depth study shows the vital role swimming plays in preventing, and treating, physical and mental health conditions.
According to the analysis, the largest health savings are made up from dementia (£139,546,106) and strokes (£100,046,173). Other key savings are made in diabetes (£37,446,191), colon cancer (£10,433,330), breast cancer (£9,830,341) and depression (£9,501,792).
The report also reveals how £51,048,348 is saved as a result of reduced GP and psychotherapy visits by those who swim regularly.
The research is based on data collected on regular swimmers at more than 1,000 pools in England over the past 12 months. The data was then applied to academic research undertaken by Sheffield Hallam University using the industry-recognised DataHub – Social Value Calculator tool to calculate the cost savings to the health and social care system.
Other key highlights published in the report include:
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Swimmers report feeling on average 6.4 per cent healthier than non-swimmers – this is comparable to feeling 12 years younger.
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Adults who swim were 4.3 per cent happier than non-swimmers.
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Swimming outdoors more than doubles this happiness boost – lifting the moods of the nearly 7.5 million adults who swim outdoors each year.
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Of the 4.7 million adults who swim at least twice a month, more than half (2.7 million) are women. The report highlights how swimming particularly benefits women and girls, more than doubling their self-confidence.
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1.4 million adults feel that swimming had significantly reduced their symptoms of anxiety and or depression.
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The 1.88 million children aged 7-16 years in England who swim rate a “higher feeling of life being worthwhile” compared to those who didn’t.
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Whilst in the last 12 months 14 million adults went swimming, the benefits to the nation could be even greater if progress can be made amongst the 1 in 3 adults in England that cannot swim.
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Swimmers are more likely to be socially connected – and 26.7 per cent less likely to have no friends compared to non-swimmers.
STROKE
TECHNIQUE
UPPER & LOWER BODY
STRENGTH
BREATHING
TECHNIQUE
SWIMMING LESSONS
(Children & Youth)
Swimming lessons are significant for a child’s growth and development. In some instances, children learn to swim before they can walk, this is especially true if their parents are avid swimmers.
Safe and Secure Learning Environment
One of the greatest causes of accidental deaths among preschool children is drowning. Most of these deaths occur in backyard swimming pools to the children who just begin to learn to swim. Thus it is of particular importance that parents are involved in learning their children to swim.
Teaching your young toddler a cautious approach to the water, will create an awareness that it is prohibited to swim unless being accompanied by a parent. Adhering to this principle decreases the likelihood for kids getting into hazardous situations.
Fine Motor Development
Numerous academic studies prove that until the age of 4, children don’t possess the fine motor skills necessary to coordinate “conventional swimming”. For better results kids need one-on-one instruction and instruction. Such instructions and adjustments are best provided by an experienced swim instructor. Young babies and toddlers are encouraged to experience a lesson, with their parents near-by, or in the water directly.
In your child's swimming lesson, they will learn to become comfortable with putting their face in the water, holding their breathe and then going back under again. I will begin to teach them how to breathe in the water; how to move through the water and have a respect of a water environment. I work creatively, humorously and directly to keep the child focused on swimming, and not being fearful or doubtful of the swimming task itself.
As lessons progress, your child will learn to bob underwater, do front and back floats and eventually move up to more advanced movements. Gradually, your child and I will go through learning how to move their arms and their legs in coordinated sequences for a variety of initial stroke types, drills and breathing patterns.
As your child learns swim strokes and techniques, I will lead classes in a variety of pools and water levels, as appropriate for the student.
We'll gradually move into deeper water to teach them how to move around and maintain balance in the water. Lesson days in deep water areas will focus on treading water, sculling and diving to deeper depths.
Prop such as fins, the kick-board or a leg buoy may often be used to accentuate building strength in targeted areas. The students abilities to swim targeted parts of different stroke types will grow and gradually, the student will learn entire stroke! As an instructor, I continually assess the student's age, body type and physical abilities to keep their learning experience fruitful, fun and safe.
Additionally, as a student advances in age, confidence and ability, they will be instructed in correct methods for entering the water through diving; flip-turns and starting positions.
SWIMMING TRAINING
(Adults)
Adults go through the same process as children when learning to swim. The first step is becoming comfortable in the water. The next step is adjusting to the head being submerged followed by floating, propulsion, and confidence in deep water. When combined w/breathing techniques, one can begin to learn swimming all 4 strokes in various stages. Each stroke is a unique combination of breathing, rotation, arm pull / hand catch, kick and core strength.
Each swimming action builds upon the next, and can be discussed with an adult, and then attempted in a logical, systematic manner. Any difficulty that arises is objectively and intuitively assessed, in order to change the way we are working at that moment to create a better feeling of safety, enjoyment, endurance and healthy motivation to excel in correct swimming techniques.
Overcoming Fear
There are two main reasons why adults who do not know how to swim were not able to do so when they were young:
The first is a lack of opportunity and the second more common reason, is an irrational fear of the water. As one grows older, they may continue to avoid learning how to swim well, mainly because of embarrassment at not being able to do something many children appear to find easy!
Some people make this an excuse not to learn to swim, or worse, to no longer exercise as regularly as before. Swimming can still be engaged in, despite these age related changes. Some of my best students are in their 60's & 70's!
Liquid Health
The older one gets, the more attractive swimming as a form of exercise becomes, because it does not stress the joints to the same degree that dry land exercises do. Joint pain is thus either absent or very minimal after exercise.
Also, increased blood circulation to both the muscles and the joints definitely aid in maintaining the joint within the acceptable range of mobility for a particular age group.
Nearly everyone in the health care or fitness profession will agree that the best exercise for those in their fifties or older is swimming. All the more reason to start learning young or learn now!
Another hurdle to an adult’s decision to learn to swim is the amount of time needed to learn it. They assume that because they had difficulty learning when they were young, they will encounter the same level of difficulty. Swimming is all about training the mind, breathing and staying calm in the water. Learning comes through repetition, focused attention and intuitive corrections given by an experienced instructor.
Form meets Function
Regardless if you are familiar with swimming previously, OR if you’ve never swam, OR if you want to learn to swim better, OR if you are a triathlete looking to have better performance in your next race, I can easily work with you to create a plan to improve your:
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water confidence
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breathing quality & pattern
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stroke technique
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Butterfly
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Breast stroke
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Back stroke
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Freestyle
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IM's
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Survival strokes
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upper & lower body strength
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core strength
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endurance
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body rotation
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speed
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water entry techniques
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flip-turns
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diving and beyond!....
Private Swim Instruction / Training Weekly Time Slots:
All times listed below are subject to change, as per client base. Inquire directly for current daily availability!!!
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Private ADULT Swim Training ~ Monday / Wednesday / Friday AM slots
***Time slots are suggested slots. Actual availability must be confirmed.
-5:30am – 6:15 am
-6:15am – 7:00am
-7:15am – 8:00am
-7:30am – 8:15am
-8:30am – 9:15am
-9:30am – 10:15am
-10:30am – 11:15am
-11:30am – 12:15pm
(Parents are welcome to schedule a 30 Min lesson for their child, as per times accordingly.)
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Private ADULT Swim Training ~ Tuesday / Thursday / AM slots
***Time slots are suggested slots. Actual availability must be confirmed.
-5:30am – 6:15 am
-6:15am – 7:00am
-7:15am – 8:00am
-7:30am – 8:15am
-8:30am – 9:15am
-9:30am – 10:15am
-10:30am – 11:15am
-11:30am – 12:15pm
(Parents are welcome to schedule a 30 Min lesson for their child, as per times accordingly.)
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Private YOUTH / ADULT Swim Training & Lesson ~ Monday / Wednesday / Friday PM slots
***Time slots are suggested slots. Actual availability must be confirmed.
-2:45pm – 3:15pm
-3:50pm – 4:20pm
-4:30pm – 5:00pm
-5:10pm – 5:40pm
-5:45pm – 6:15pm
(Adults are welcome to schedule a 45min or 1hr lesson, as per times accordingly.)
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Private YOUTH / ADULT Swim Training & Lesson ~ Tuesday / Thursday PM slots
-2:45pm – 3:15pm
-3:50pm – 4:20pm
-4:30pm – 5:00pm
-5:10pm – 5:40pm
-5:45pm – 6:15pm
(Adults are welcome to schedule a 45min or 1hr lesson, as per times accordingly.)