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| Traci Cole |
I was born in the Dominican Republic so my older sister and I learned to swim very young. It was important for us to make sure our kids learned water safety and basic floating, swimming, etc. We had a friend that used to attend our church who was a private swimming instructor, so we reached out to her to teach our kids to swim. My daughter was one and a half and my nephew was two and a half. The summer of 2008 we hired Traci Cole, an experienced swim teacher and swimming coach. She came to our pool to teach our kids swimming. She gave each child a 30 minute lesson and we purchased 10 sessions each.
I have to admit I was really wary that she was going to be able to teach my daughter, who was so young, anything at all. The first few sessions my daughter was screaming murder and I felt like someone was going to report me for child abuse! It was so heart wrenching watching the first few lessons but halfway through something amazing happened she stopped crying, screaming, and was actually putting her head under the water. By the last lesson she could actually paddle, kick, and swim short distances alone. My nephew picked it up quickly and was swimming like a pro. I liked Traci because she did private lessons, it was only one child at a time. Traci worked with our shedule, came to our pool, was very warm, professional, and all around excellent. She charges $40 per lesson, but gave my sister, a friend, and I the group rate of $20 per child, per lesson.
A year went by and I didn't take Angel to the pool much since my parents moved away to Orlando and I didn't have their pool to practice in. When the summer time came again and I took Angel to the pool, I realized she had lost most of her skills and needed swimming lessons again. My nephew didn't need to take swimming again, so I opted for a more inexpensive class than private lessons. This time I took her to Little Swimmers, located at the Killian Palms Country Club, where they promise your child will learn to swim in 5 lessons. I was a little skeptical but I tried it out, her instructor was very good and patient with her but I missed 1 lesson and when I tried to reschedule a make up they were always giving me the runaround so I never got it. So really Angel got 4 lessons and on her last day they kind of push the kid to the water to show what they learned. She swam but it didn't really stick, so I wasn't very satisfied with the program. She was mostly wearing floaties the rest of the summer. At the moment I felt like she learned the technique but a few weeks later kind of forgot about it.
The following summer, when Angel was 3, I enrolled her in a summer camp for 8 weeks that offered swimming. I felt this would help her master and keep her swimming skills. She got swimming lessons from Swim Gym, a swimming school that has a location in Cutler Bay, and also teaches swimming at private schools & camps. With these swimming lessons, I felt like it was baby swimming. I felt that she wasn't really learning how to swim independently. The classes promoted water safety and learning how to be comfortable in the water. I wanted something a little more advanced.
This year she is 4, enrolled in the same camp, taking swimming lessons from Swim Gym again and I have to say my long journey into teaching Angel how to swim may finally be coming to end because she is now swimming from one end of the pool to the other end by herself!!! She will also continue to get swimming lessons throughout the school year at her preschool from Swim Gym because her school offers swimming twice a week as part of her curriculum. I believe she needs the practice and consistency to improve. This might be why her swimming has progresses slowly since after the summer is over I typically do not take her to many water activities. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Additional information on the instructor and schools mentioned above:
Traci Cole
http://fit4lifezenstudio.com/
(305) 796-8838
Special Savvy Hookup: 2 or more kids in private lessons at a rate of $20 per child, per lesson. Also, purchase 10 lessons and get the 11th free! Just mention the Savvy Hookup sent you.
Little Swimmers
http://www.littleswimmers.net/
Swim Gym
http://swimgym.net/main.php
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