Little Stingrays

Last week Nicholas started the Little Stingrays, kind of an intro into our local swim team. The program is for 4 and 5 year olds who have had some water exposure, but cannot yet swim a lap in the pool. Nicholas had three rounds of swim lessons last year and was able to float, bob, hold his breath under water, etc, so I thought this might be a good way to go. Also, Nicholas has always been very curious about the lanes and blocks by the Olympic pool, so he was very excited when I told him he'd be swimming by the "swim races".

Nicholas has done well so far with the Little Stingrays. He definitely has A LOT of work ahead of him to become a proficient swimmer. For example, the first day they were working on kicking across the pool on a kick board. His legs were flopping around all haphazardly, so they were working on having him kick with straight legs, and only at the feet (a scissor kick). He's picking up quickly though. The kick is not yet perfectly straight, but it's a lot less floppy. The nice thing is that there are only 5 kids in the program and each kid has their own teacher, so he's getting one on one lessons 4 days a week. The Little Stingrays goes for 3 more weeks...it'd be awesome if he could swim by the end!

The boy has no apprehension about getting in the water
(His "helper" for the day was Kelsi, my good friend Brandy's younger sister!)

First day using a kick board

Practicing his floating with Coach Kristy

Pulling up on the wall to say hi