In addition to learning aquatic skills, stroke movements; water safety is a focus

Summer swimming lesson sessions now underway

American Red Cross summer swimming lesson sessions are already into Session 2 at the Mountain Lake Public School indoor swimming pool, led by pool coordinator and swim instructor, Sandy Melheim. The first session of the season was held May 19-May 22 and May 27-May 30, the second is running weekday afternoons from June 2-June 12, and the third set of classes will go weekday mornings from June 16-26.

The six-level Learn-to-Swim program is designed for children over six years of age – all the way up to adults – and students progress through the levels at their own pace, mastering the skills in one level before advancing to the next. Each class level includes training in basic water safety and helping others in an emergency, in addition to stroke development.

The six levels are:

* Level 1 – Introduction to Water Skills.

* Level 2 – Fundamental Aquatic Skills.

* Level 3 – Stroke Development.

* Level 4 – Stroke Improvement.

* Level 5 – Stroke Refinement.

* Level 6 – Swimming and Skill Proficiency.

A preschool swimming class for ages eight months to four years is also offered at the pool, and will begin Wednesday, June 18, and continue June 23, 24 and 25.

On Friday, June 6, it was safety day for the 4, 5 and 6 level students of Session 2. Student swimmers jumped in with their clothes on, used life jackets in the water and also practiced tossing a life ring into the pool to rescue a struggling swimmer. The Cross-Counties Connect camera was at the pool to capture what was learned.

 

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MOUNTAIN LAKE PUBLIC School indoor swimming pool coordinator and American Red Cross swim instructor Sandy Melheim, right, demonstrates to Session 2’s 4,5,and 6 classes how to properly throw a life ring out into a pool in order to rescue a struggling swimmer.

 

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DELAINEY JANZEN SWIMS the length of the swimming pool dressed in street clothes – a long-sleeved shirt and jeans – in order to experience what it would be like to have to do so in a real life situation in order to make a rescue

 

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AMY BARTSCH, AT top and Alex Hernandez, at bottom, learn how heavy wet street clothes can become when worn in water.

 

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IAN PENNER LEARNS how to properly use his life jacket after jumping off the diving board.

 

 

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LEVELS 5 AND 6 swimmers. in their life jackets, gather in a circle and lock arms as they practice the “huddle.” The procedure is done when stranded in the water and assures that no one floats away with waves or the current.

 

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BEN BARTSCH, LEFT, under the watchful eye of Melheim, right, practices throwing out the life ring, making sure to keep his foot on the end of the lifeline.

 

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ANNA KIRK SUCCESSFULLY tosses out the life ring and brings to “shore” the swimmer in distress who is hanging onto the ring. Melheim, at right, demonstrates how to pull in the swimmer by pulling the life line hand-after-hand.
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DRAYTON KLASSEN SHOWS that he, too, can complete the life ring rescue.
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