Old Bridge Y Announces New Swim Program, Focus Remains on Safety

As America’s Swim Instructor, the Y is the most accessible community resource to prevent drowning and encourage a lifelong enjoyment of swimming—teaching more than one million kids a year swimming and water safety skills.

This spring, the Old Bridge YMCA is updating their lessons to increase the accessibility and enjoyment of swimming to all ages and skill levels. The latest evolution of Y Swim Lessons accommodates varying abilities to help foster a sense of achievement as swimmers’ progress between levels. With a focus on water safety and self-survival skills, the new curriculum begins with basic swimming readiness skills and progresses to stroke introduction, refinement and technique. Through this approach, advanced swimmers flow more easily to higher levels while swimmers who need more instruction can learn at their own pace. This results in more confident swimmers who stick with lessons and develop a love for swimming that can last a lifetime.

“We want swim lessons to be a rite of passage for ALL children; helping kids stay safe in and around the water while developing a love of swimming,” said Sharon Halpin, Interim Pres./CEO of YMCA of Western Monmouth County. “Through the Y’s latest approach to swim lessons, kids of all ages can progress at their own pace while building the skills and confidence needed to become a successful swimmer.”

There are three general categories of Y Swim Lessons:

• Swim Starters develops water enrichment and aquatic readiness in children ages 6 months to 3 years. This category focuses on developing swim readiness skills through fun and confidence-building experiences. Parents also learn how to supervise children in the water, how to prevent accidents and how to plan for emergencies.

• Swim Basics develops personal water safety and basic swimming skills in students of all ages. Swimmers develop a high level of comfort in the water by practicing safe water habits, engaging in underwater exploration, and learning how to swim to safety and exit if they fall into a body of water.

• Swim Strokes introduces and refines stroke technique in older students (school age, teens and adults). Having mastered the fundamentals, students learn additional water safety skills and build stroke technique, developing skills that prevent chronic disease, increase social-emotional and cognitive well-being and foster a lifetime of physical activity.

The Y introduced the concept of group swim lessons in 1909. Now, each year in more than 2,000 pools across the country, the Y teaches more than a million children from all backgrounds invaluable water safety and swim skills. In Monmouth and Middlesex Counties, the YMCA of Western Monmouth County teaches thousands of children water safety and swimming each year. Swim lessons are offered year-round for all ages and levels, as well as lifeguard certification classes, at the Freehold and Old Bridge branches. Registration for their next session will begin Monday, April 16.

Families interested in learning more about Y swim lessons and water safety are invited to attend an Aquatics Open House at the Old Bridge Y at 1 Mannino Park Drive, Old Bridge, on March 29th, 8:00pm. More information can also be found at www.ymcanj.org/swim.

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About The YMCA of Western Monmouth County

The Y is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits strengthening communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. For over 120 years, the YMCA of Western Monmouth County has the long-standing relationships and physical presence not just to promise, but to deliver, lasting personal and social change. In 2016, the YMCA of Western Monmouth County provided over $350,000 in financial assistance to the children, families and seniors of our community. For more information, visit www.ymcanj.org.