The Joy of Aquatics

Tip: Games should be planned, relevant, inclusive, safe & fun #JoyofAquatics

Tip: Choose a Theme #JoyofAquatics

Tip: Use the Whole Pool... And nothing but the whole pool #JoyofAquatics

Tip: Use your drag to create lift #JoyofAquatics

Tip: Class formation can make or break an activity... monitor your formation and make changes if you need to. #JoyofAquatics

Infant Week Tip: When grown ups participate by demonstrating the exercise, the children are more likely to do it too #JoyofAquatics

Infant Week Tip: Hyponatremia: Teach grown ups what to look for so they can practice safely outside of lessons. #JoyofAquatics

Infant Week Tip: Thumbs out, should keep babies warm and safe from taking on too much water. #JoyofAquatics

Infant Week Tip: Focus of teaching the grownups, let them teach the children. #JoyofAquatics

Infant Week Many teachers start their infant classes from the water. Tip: Teach Parents Entries and Exits and start your lessons from the side of the pool. #JoyofAquatics

Patricia English is studying her Master's Degree at Central Queensland University. What's it in you ask? It is an investigation of the risk management of pre-existing medical conditions to minimise the incidence of fatal and non-fatal drownings within Australian Public facilities. Listen to Trish talk about why she decided to study this and what the implications could be for the industry. Take the surveys at the links below. It should take around 15 minutes to complete and at the completion of the survey, you'll be given the option to enter a prize draw to win one of three $50 Speedo vouchers. Industry professionals: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SAFE_Staff Patrons/Clients: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SAFE_Participant

Cassee Evans from Capella, QLD (population less than 1000), talks to Joy about the challenges of a rural/regional teacher and how she finds support. What do you do for support? Social Media is great for our remote colleagues but what else is there? Cassee Evans: www.streamlineswimming.com.au

After 5 episodes now of programming information, Alina Graham gives us the last of her ultimate list of programming essentials. What elements need to be considered? How complex is writing a program? How does all of this impact teachers?

After 4 episodes of programming information, Alina Graham gives us her ultimate list of programming essentials. What elements need to be considered? How complex is writing a program? How does all of this impact teachers? This is part 1 of 2. YES! That's how big this list is.

The conversation continues this week with Chris Dellit and Mark and Peter Dalle Cort. We are in the process of trying to find out about what goes into programming and how teachers can ask for help, guidance, support, or even request changes or make suggestions to better the program. It can be scary for teachers to approach management with suggested changes. These conversations can be hard and if not met with respect on both sides of the fence, relationships and teaching outcomes can reduce. How can we help these relationships flourish?

Continuing the conversation with Chris Dellit, we add in her two sons who both manage Swim Schools. It's interesting to hear how the programming works across multiple sites. Quality Control is a big deal for large swim schools and hearing their creative solutions to this problem is wonderful.

With over 40 years experience behind her, Chris Dellit, an award winning teacher talks to us about how she developed her program and how it's still evolving. Love Laugh Swim: Teachers have the ability to influence students in ways we cant imagine.

What goes into a program? How do people create their own programs? What can Teachers do if they don't like the programming being offered? To kick off this series, I spoke with Sarah Morris, a fierce defender of her program to find out how she created it and what teachers can do if they don't like or disagree with the programming being offered.

It was great to catch up with Darren Lange, from Darren Lange Swimming Academy in Toowoomba, in Australia, after 16 years! An Olympic Swimmer and swim school owner for 26 years, Darren talks to us today about what considerations swim school owners have to think about before they can re-open as the COVID-19 Pandemic restriction are slowly lifted. Darren talks about his survey of his customers, teachers and other swim school owners and a few things teachers may not have considered regarding re-opening.

As swim schools start preparing (some already returned) to work, teachers need to know what changes they may come across when returning to work. Let's face it, teaching swimming is going to look very different for quite some time! What this will look like may be totally different for each country, state, local council, shire, facility and teacher. I have interviewed three swim schools from three different countries, Heidi Pare - USA, Michael Phelps Swimming Saskia Kirby - Aus, Kirby Swim Mark Mac Nichol - UK, In at the Deep End to help teachers understand what changes they can possibly expect when they return to work. Part 1: USA and Aus Part 2: UK IMG: Michael Dyrland

As swim schools start preparing (some already returned) to work, teachers need to know what changes they may come across when returning to work. Let's face it, teaching swimming is going to look very different for quite some time! What this will look like may be totally different for each country, state, local council, shire, facility and teacher. I have interviewed three swim schools from three different countries, Heidi Pare - USA, Michael Phelps Swimming Saskia Kirby - Aus, Kirby Swim Mark Mac Nichol - UK, In at the Deep End to help teachers understand what changes they can possibly expect when they return to work. Part 1: USA and Aus Part 2: UK IMG: Michael Dyrland

Children with ASD are 160x more likely to drown than children without ASD. Autism Swim is an organisation who has set out to change that. On International Water Safety Day 2020 it's vital this key statistic is shared among our industry so we can help make changes for some of our most vulnerable populations. Listen to Erika Gleeson's water story and check out her work at www.autismswim.com.au

Roslyn Laurie is a celebrated author and an award-winning swimming teacher. Her journey through this life has been challenging and the lessons she has learned by raising three children, two of whom have autism, she's now ready to share. Join us in this episode as Ros shares her secrets and discusses how to work with children with autism. The wonder woman will also share a little about her journey to gaining her insightful knowledge. Ros' story is heartbreaking. She is filled with courage, strength and life. This woman WILL pull on your heartstrings. You can find a copy of Ros' book here: https://www.amazon.com.au/What-Can-Be-Roslyn-Laurie-ebook/dp/B07ZWYNMKC

More support is available in many social media groups. Alena Sarri takes us through her Facebook Groups (The Swim Instructors Group, Instructor Courses, Instructor Jobs) and why she created them. We are not JUST swimming teachers! We are Aquatic Educators!

Tori Karg de Almeida talks to Joy about the pros and cons of Social Media during the COIVD-19 pandemic. A swimming teacher and swim school owner from South Africa, Tori also runs her marketing company specifically for swim schools. Tori's passion for swimming and marketing shines through as she explains why it's important swim schools and business owners stay on top of their social media accounts now. "Now is the time to Shine!" www.shineswimschoolmarketing.com

Catching up with ASCTA, STA, Austswim, & Starfish Aquatics to find out what support there is for teachers and owners during this time.

Today I caught up with Swim Australia's Executive Director, Gary Toner and Amanda Allen from the Shanghai American School who talk about their experience amid COVID-19 Pandemic and what this might mean for the future of Learn to Swim. #WeALLSwimTogether

What do parents really want? Valeria Goble is a parent of a young swimming and water safety student. What does she want from her lessons?

In this episode Julia Wood talks about the study Peninsula Aquatic Recreation Centre is doing with Deakin University in regards to intensives versus weekly lessons. She also ties that to parent satisfaction - what can we do to keep parents happy the education we provide their children?

School swimming can be a challenge for many teachers… Why is it so challenging and how can we do it better? School Swimming Legend, Bernie Wilson talks the ins and outs of the school swimming season.

After hearing about the issues with national benchmarking and assessment tools I thought it wise to catch up with Penny Larsen from Royal Lifesaving Australia to hear how the framework is being updated within our industry. I'm very looking forward to see how owners and teachers implement the new framework with implementation of assessment tools. What we do with this new information is up to us. How will WE transform the industry?

Nina Nyitrai joins me to discuss her industry benchmark study and the problems she ran into. Her solutions could change the learn to swim industry.

Natalie Livingston discussed her article '10 Water Safety Tips: From a Mom Who Investigates Drownings' with Joy. Natalie says things, many in the aquatic industry are thinking, but too afraid to say. You can find the original article here: https://www.facebook.com/aquaticsafetyconnection/photos/a.369137307079035/369137213745711/?type=3&theater

How much do we know about the pool water and the effect it has on our teeth? Jolene Sturgess, Dental Hygienist, gives us the low down on to minimise the impact of pool water on our teeth. Capricornia Dental Centre http://capricorniadental.com.au/

Damaging their vocal cords daily, many swimming teachers don’t even consider a vocal warm up. Catarina Hebberd (www.indelabilityarts.com) gives us vocal warm up tips to keep our resonators in good condition while working in a vocally challenging environment. This episode comes with a YouTube special, zoom interview with Jessica Ham (Actress, Singer) who takes us through some of her favourite warm ups (https://youtu.be/1zzl8PNtrOw).

Jasmine Ward has been a Hairdressing since she was 11 years old. She's been swimming since she was 4! In this episode, the mother of four, gives us affordable tips for pre & post swimming, colour care and head lice.

I caught up with Deb O'Rourke from Eidsvold who spoke a little about her experience with ASEA and gave us her 4 P's to self care for swimming teachers. With the last third of winter upon us, sickness is rife. When is it snot ok for parents to bring their kids to lessons? Liz Corr's creative graphics educating parents. Sink or Swim: Water Safety and Swimming Lessons Guide for Parents. http://www.aqualification.com.au/tri-program/sink-or-swim/

Time to take care of our skin from the inside out and the outside in. For more information on ASEA there are videos and articles in library section of this page. https://joysymons.myasealive.com/ Video Library: https://joysymons.myasealive.com/at/library/Video.aspx Document Library: https://joysymons.myasealive.com/at/library/Document.aspx

Selfcare can come in many shapes. From a hot bath, to a holiday but Mentors can also provide a level of self care people often forget about. Someone to help guide you in a new job, build your confidence on a rough day or show you some tips and tricks to make things easier. The mentor; mentee relationship can be hard to find. How do we find it, how do we use it? [email protected]

We get students for 30 minutes a week. How can we maximise our time? Yes, we can talk about time on task and other things but I think we can do better than that. This episode isn’t just for lessons and teachers. This relates to life. We only get one. We only have a short time on this earth. How can we maximise our time here? Purpose and Objectives. Acting with intention. Carry this through to all areas of your life and changes begin to happen for you, the people around you and our planet. Success doesn't always work in straight lines but it's always objective after the other.

What can swimming and water safety teachers learn from Aqua Instructors? Well it turns out there's quite a lot. This week I speak with Christina Naysmith from Austswim who presents the majority of Aqua Instructors courses. I also share my funniest day in the water teaching lessons and catch up with a swimming friend who shares a funny story about teaching. You can find out more at http://www.aqualification.com.au/tri-program/the-joy-of-aquatics/ or email [email protected] to send in any feedback. Be like Millie, and never be afraid to make a splash wherever you go! Happy Teaching!

This is my favourite subject right now. If we get this right, we're winning! I feel this is a major issue in the industry because we aren't educating teachers? I just spent an hour this week going over behaviour management with a candidate after an assessment where her students were poorly behaved. Why don't we do more of this in our courses? Purely because it's hard and scary and taking a side means you offend someone. There's also so many ways to manage behaviour. If we get this wrong, this is where toxic stress can creep in to our classes. Not just for our students but for us as well! Fundamentally it should all be the same.

Episode 3 In Episode three I speak with Julie Zancanaro, and Sue Mayo. These two Titans of Trauma take this conversation to another level with specific examples of what’s acceptable and what’s not. The episode where the boundaries are set. Julie Zancanaro: www.hillsswimming.com Sue Mayo: [email protected] Governing Bodies AUSTSWIM TAKES A STANCE ON FORCEFUL TEACHING TECHNIQUES: https://austswim.com.au/News/MediaReleases.aspx ASCTA/SWIM AUSTRALIA’S FORCED BACK FLOAT AND SUBMERSION POSITION: https://www.swimaustralia.org.au/docs/Forced-Back-Float-Submersion-Position-July-2018.pdf Looking for Forms? Joy of Aquatics: http://www.aqualification.com.au/tri-program/the-joy-of-aquatics/ Have your say form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QxX6Pu6NkYxZAKfEOP6goHOsMA34ELlONEL5dnyBMi0/viewform?ts=5a2a2bef&edit_requested=true Lodge a question: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vsF9zKJYx2K55p1_W_SGn63ELCGhVZugpVBHGCetwaI/viewform?ts=5a2a2c2d&edit_requested=true

Trauma in Swimming Lessons part 2/3: What does it look like? In the first three episodes of the podcast we begin to tackle the topic of trauma, crying and forceful teaching techniques. In this episode we speak with Alina Graham and Shannon Townsend. Acknowledge the emotion Manage the behaviour Teach the fear Alina Graham: www.allaboutaquatics.com.au Shannon Townsend: www.aquatic.glennie.qld.edu.au From Last week: Professor Darryl Higgins: Director, Institute of Child Protection Studies Mel Nelsin: www.melsaqua.com.au