The Importance of Swim Lessons: An Interview with Goldfish Swim School GM, Andrew!

This post is sponsored by Goldfish Swim School, however all of my opinions are my own.

We swim once a week. Once a week we watch our kids take one step forward in mastering their bodies in the water. With every deep breath, stroke and intense power moves through the water, we feel better about days at the pool and making memories at the beach. We owe so much of this to Goldfish Swim School, so I thought it would be nice to hear from the General Manager himself, and have him tell you the true magic of this place.

Learn why Andrew believes EVERY CHILD deserves to have access to swim lessons.

“Obviously the first thing that comes to mind is safety. Drowning is the one of the leading causes of preventable death. Swim lessons have been shown to reduce the risk of drowning by up to 88%. Right off the top, that’s a huge reason why you want to enroll in swim lessons.” Andrew states as we talk by the entrance of the Goldfish Swim School in Carmel, Indiana.

I couldn’t agree more. There’s nothing worse than turning on the news and hearing about an accidental drowning that could have been prevented with proper swim training. We started our kids at Goldfish a little over a year ago and haven’t looked back. I wanted to know more about what makes Goldfish so special, so I sat down with Andrew for a few more questions.

EK: Why should parents start swim lessons early?

Andrew: There are so many reasons. It’s one of the first sports you can start to participate in. Parents love to get in the water with their kids. It creates bonding time. Kids that swim have been shown to increase coordination, social skills and cognitive ability. It really is a holistic activity.

EK: So starting early is definitely important….but just how young can my swimmer be?

Andrew: Here at Goldfish we start at 4 months age. What’s really great about starting that young, well a lot of times a parent will even ask me why so young. Parents believe their kids aren’t going to learn anything. Well, that’s not really true. Kids at 4 months of age can already hold their breath. They don’t have a fear of water. What we’re going to do is keep them acclimated in the water so they can learn to float, pull and they can start learning on safety skills like holding on to a wall. Those little types of skills that we start to do in those classes are actually hurdles later in classes if you didn’t learn them early.

EK. I heard you say swimming is one of the first sports you can compete in. I heard you had a Swim Team?Tell me more.

Andrew: One of the biggest differences between Goldfish and other swim schools is that our pool can accommodate a little kid just learning how to swim all the way up to swim team level kids. We have a 25 yard pool that’s perfect to work out in and build fundamentals like “foot turns” down . We think it’s awesome if kids then go on to do Carmel Swim Club or Hamilton Southeastern.

To learn more about the Goldfish Swim Force, click here.

Thanks for talking with us , Andrew! Interested in learning more about Goldfish? Head over to their site and sign up for their Back-to-School sessions!