Swim Lessons

The Lawrence Aquahawks Swim Academy is a summer long lesson program that teaches young children how to keep safe when they are around water.  Our program is designed with young children in mind.  Our first priority with any young person is to make sure they are safe when they are around water.  We are using the SwimAmerica lesson program.

SwimAmerica is a national program which was developed by competitive swimming coaches and successful swim school directors over 10 years ago. SwimAmerica is the only swim program endorsed by the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), the most prestigious coach’s association in the world. With SwimAmerica water safety comes first! SwimAmerica lessons are designed to teach all the swim skills your child needs to be safe in and around the water for a lifetime. Although SwimAmerica operates at over 900 sites across the United States, The Lawrence Aquahawks offer the only licensed SwimAmerica program in Lawrence, Kansas.

Key features of the Express SwimAmerica program include:

• Coach to swimmer ratios of 1 to 5 or better

• Coaches are gentle, caring and understanding of children

• Program emphasizes excellent swimming technique

Group swim lesson details

Mornings at The Jayhawk Club

1809 Birdie Way

9:00am to 10:30am

Evenings at Raintree Montessori School

4601 Clinton Pkwy

5:30pm to 7:45pm

Swim lessons are $60 per session.  A session is 4 30 minute classes/week.  Classes are in 30 minute increments.  Each session runs Monday-Thursday, with Fridays designated as a makeup day.  Some holiday weeks are Tuesday - Friday.   Discounts available for members of The Jayhawk Club, students at Raintree Montessori School and Lawrence Aquahawks families.  

More about SwimAmerica

SwimAmerica is station-based program with 10 different stations offering instruction for children of all levels. At Lawrence Aquahawks SwimAmerica, we begin at age 3 - if your child is potty trained. As the skills of each station are mastered, your child is rewarded and moved to the next station within the progression. This effective step by step method allows even the youngest swimmers to learn to swim SAFELY, while offering stronger swimmers the opportunity to develop all the competitive strokes.

The following is a summary of each stations' skills and goals:

Station 1

Goal:

• 10 bobs in a rhythmic fashion

Skills:

• Water adaptation and movement

• Blowing bubbles underwater

• Looking underwater

• Bobbing and blowing in a continuous rhythmic fashion

Note: Good breathing is the KEY to good swimming. If you do not breathe properly then you will not swim well, and you will tire more quickly. We spend a lot of time working on bobs and breathing properly at all SwimAmerica stations.

Station 2

Goals:

• Floating comfortably on your front and back for 5 seconds each

• Pushing off with a good streamline on your front and gliding on your back

Skills:

• Increased comfort and relaxation in the water - establish good body position

• Floating with help and then independently on front and back

• Pushing off in a horizontal position front and back

• Streamlining

Station 3

Goals:

• Good, fast flutter kicking on your front and back (5 yards minimum)

• Breathing while kicking on your front without dog-paddle

Skills:

• Flutter kicking on front and back with help, then independently

• Kicking with floatation devices -- kickboards, noodles, bricks, etc.

• Dolphin dives/butterfly kicking

Station 4

Goals:

• Flutter kicking on your side and breathing to the side (side glide kick) minimum 20 feet

• Swimming the freestyle with “big arms” and head still minimum 20 feet

Skills:

• Balancing on your side while flutter kicking

• Head rotation for breathing to the side - with a full air exchange

• Good body/head alignment

• Development of “big arms” while swimming freestyle

• Development of “feel” for the water via sculling and drills

Station 5

Goals:

• Freestyle with good breathing and good backstroke for a minimum of 30 feet

Skills:

• Continuation of good body/head alignment in freestyle and backstroke

• Timing of breathing within the freestyle stroke without interruption of rhythm

• Backstroke arm movement with good rotation

• Freestyle arm movement with good rotation

Station 6

Goals:

• Extended freestyle and backstroke swimming (full laps of 25-yard pool) with good technique

• Ability to jump in and tread water for a minimum of 1 minute

Skills:

• Increased endurance for both freestyle and backstroke

• Continued refinement of freestyle and backstroke technique

• Diving

• Treading water/sculling.

Station 7

Goals:

• Swim 50 yards freestyle with good technique

• Swim 25 yards good backstroke

• Kick breastroke in a streamline with good technique for at least 20 feet

Skills :

• Development of breastroke kick

• Development of full stroke breastroke

• Introduction of butterfly arms and full stroke butterfly

• Continuation of stroke refinement for freestyle and backstroke

• Improved endurance in all strokes

Station 8

Goals:

• Swim 100 yards freestyle with good technique using bilateral breathing and flip turns

• Swim 25 yards good breastroke

• Swim 25 yards good butterfly

Skills:

• Refinement of technique for all four competitive strokes

• Bilateral breathing (alternate side breathing in freestyle)

• Increased endurance in all strokes

• Development of open turns and flip turns

Station 9

Goals:

• Swim 200 yards freestyle with bilateral breathing

• Swim 25 yards butterfly, 50 yards breastroke, 50 yards elementary backstroke, and 50 yards sidestroke

Skills:

• Continued refinement of all four competitive strokes

• Development of sidestroke

• Development of elementary backstroke

• Increased endurance in all strokes

Station 10 - Pre-Team

Goals:

• Swim 300 yards freestyle, 100 yards backstroke, and 100 yards individual medley

Skills:

• Extended swimming and technique refinement in all strokes and turns

Sessions Offered for Group Lessons

2023 Sessions TBA