Way ahead to get in the swim

1:10pm Saturday 13th January 2007

My name is Victoria Pettitt and I own and run the Splish Splosh Swimming School which operates in York and Leeds.

The swimming schools were set up in April 2005 with an objective to provide local children more opportunities to learn to swim.

Personally I have been a swimming teacher for nine years now and have taught privately and publicly.

My passion is swimming and I believe everyone should have the opportunity to learn such a life saving skill.

With the help and support of our valued customers we now have lessons operating at six locations across York and Leeds, soon to be seven locations.

In writing this column, I want to be able to help parents or adults understand more about swimming and so will regularly offer hints and tips that can be applied.

One question I am asked on a regular basis is "Why do my child's legs look like they are sinking?"

Below are a number of hints and tips to apply when you see this happening:

• Ensure that your child's chin is resting on the water. If the child is tipping their head back this is not ensuring that the body is streamline on the water.

The body will start to tilt - on front crawl or breaststroke you need the body to be streamline.

• Look at the way the child is kicking their legs, do they look like they are kicking from their knees or their hips? The child needs to be kicking from their hips and keeping their legs straight.

A tip we use at Splish Splosh is the smelly sock technique. Sit the child on the side of pool and ask them to put their legs straight and ask them to pretend they have smelly socks on.

Ensure they are not bending their legs and ask them to pretend to shake them off. Practice this with them at home sat on the sofa with an actual pair of socks.

• If the smelly sock technique doesn't work ask them to be a ballet dancer or a footballer.

Bear with me, while I explain. Ballet dancers and footballers both have to point their toes within their activity.

This helps the children understand and relate it to something they know about. Most of the boys end up being Beckham and the girls, Little Princess ballet dancers.

More hints and tips next week.