My two daughters have been taking survival swimming lessons since they were 6 months respectively. They also have been in maintenance classes at least once a year. Because of our positive experiences with these programs and my love for survival swim, I am an adamant supporter of survival swim, as opposed to the traditional swim classes most people are used to. This summer I had the amazing opportunity to work with a local DFW area school, Flipkick Swim Academy, on refresher survival swim courses for my girls. The plan is to refresh and strengthen the skills they already have and to begin stroke development.
Survival swimming has been around for a long time, but hasn’t been as popular and mainstream until probably the last five years. The current generation of adults tend to be overly cautious with their children. I am definitely one of those aforementioned adults. These days we want to help our children be the most successful possible, without them ever failing. In this instance, we don’t want our children to ever drown. I think this is why survival swimming has become so popular. We have been more inclined to do more things in a greater effort for us to be more informed and prepared with our children around water. A pool fence and pool alarm are not enough. There is water everywhere: canals, oceans, lakes, rivers, pools, and ravines. Water is in all sorts of places and there isn’t always an edge or person for a child to swim to.
Before I tell you more about why I chose survival swimming and Flipkick Swim Academy, let me break down the differences between survival swimming and traditional swimming lessons:
There are many different options when it comes to swimming, but it is VERY important that if survival swimming is what you are looking for, that you do your research. Many places claim that they are teaching the techniques for your child to be able to save themselves, but in all actuality don’t. Good news for my DFW friends, you don’t have to look any further. When Kona Morren and I first started talking I was very hesitant. Like I said before, my kids have been doing survival swim for a while and I’m not over here wanting them to learn to blow bubbles or how to swim with a kickboard. The more I spoke to Kona, and the more I investigated Flipkick’s instagram and website, I knew this was the real deal.
Flipkick Swim Academy (FSA) has an eight level Stroke Development program personally developed by Kona Morren. They have two, year round indoor locations: North Richland Hills at The Scuba Shop and Ft. Worth at The Resource Connection Aquatic Center. Lessons can begin as early as 2 months with parent assistance, 6 months for survival swimming, and continue between ages 4 and 5 for stroke development which continues layering into breast stroke, backstroke, butterfly, and free style, all the way to competition training. Each student is given a Personalized and Progressive Approach so that their instruction is catered to their skill set. For example, a student that is learning how to do the breast stroke continues to practice survival swimming, including floating and swim float swim sequences. Survival swimming teachers, and Flipkick specifically, discourage usage of any flotation devices including but not limited to: puddle jumpers, neck ring floats, and arm floats. Skills and muscle memory are integral to this program so it is necessary that children do not become used to a false sense of security or “swimming” in the drowning position (vertically). Both locations are indoors and have heated pools, so lessons are offered year round. Flipkick encourages students to continue swimming throughout the year to keep skills at their best, but offers all sorts of programs based on your family’s needs and skills.
Kona, her daughter Keelin, and their incredible staff of instructors are all trained through their Flipkick Academy specific curriculum that Kona herself developed. They even train independent instructors in survival swimming methods through their Project Swim 4 Life curriculum.
Personally, I want my children to have the skills in place necessary to be safe. Flipkick academy and their survival swimming program gives me peace of mind. I know my kids have the muscle memory to be able to float and call for help, the techniques to surface for air while swimming to safety, and the confidence and intelligence to understand that water is fun but it doesn’t come without risk. I am excited to see how quickly my girls pick up where they left off a year ago and to see them start stroke development when ready! I think know they will be better swimmers than their mother in no time!
Check back in a couple of weeks as I review our experience with Flipkick ((spoiler: we love it!))
Just keep swimming…
If you have any more questions about survival swimming and Flipkick Swim Academy here in DFW or recommended programs around the country please feel free to message me here or Kona Morren at info@flipkick.org or at www.flipkick.org. This post was created in collaboration with Flipkick Swim Academy and all my opinions are my own.
