The facility I work for has decided to make the switch from Red Cross aquatics to Starfish Aquatics. http://www.starfishaquatics.org/
There are reasons for the change, but they're all at the administrative level. What this means on a practical level is that all the previously trained Red Cross lesson instructors have had to do "cross-over" classes to become re-certified. I've been teaching lessons for almost 15 years, and have done the "old" Red Cross, then YMCA lessons, and then the "new" Red Cross, and now Starfish. The adjustment was fairly easy, but I'm still using some of my teaching techniques from RC. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The Starfish Aquatic program might look a little different from the outside. Instead of numbered levels, SA does colors. The levels are also broken down into "Swim School" and "Stroke School". The goal of Swim School is to prepare students to learn competitive strokes in Stroke School.
The levels for both schools are white, red, yellow, blue, and green. Skills in Swim School are geared towards body position and movement, not on specific strokes. Stroke work is done in Stroke School, with each color level working on a specific competitive stroke, such as freestyle in White Stroke School, and butterfly in Yellow Stoke School.
The "lower" levels of Starfish look very similar to those in Red Cross; going under water, floating, blowing bubbles, etc. The main difference is that Starfish focuses only on skills that will eventually be competitive swim strokes. There is no sidestroke or elementary backstroke taught in Starfish. More time is spent on preparing swimmers for good technique, such as swimming on the side and body rotation.
I am still a certified Instructor Trainer for Red Cross, and will still be able to write about Red Cross lessons, but I will also be adding Starfish to this blog.
There are reasons for the change, but they're all at the administrative level. What this means on a practical level is that all the previously trained Red Cross lesson instructors have had to do "cross-over" classes to become re-certified. I've been teaching lessons for almost 15 years, and have done the "old" Red Cross, then YMCA lessons, and then the "new" Red Cross, and now Starfish. The adjustment was fairly easy, but I'm still using some of my teaching techniques from RC. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The Starfish Aquatic program might look a little different from the outside. Instead of numbered levels, SA does colors. The levels are also broken down into "Swim School" and "Stroke School". The goal of Swim School is to prepare students to learn competitive strokes in Stroke School.
The levels for both schools are white, red, yellow, blue, and green. Skills in Swim School are geared towards body position and movement, not on specific strokes. Stroke work is done in Stroke School, with each color level working on a specific competitive stroke, such as freestyle in White Stroke School, and butterfly in Yellow Stoke School.
The "lower" levels of Starfish look very similar to those in Red Cross; going under water, floating, blowing bubbles, etc. The main difference is that Starfish focuses only on skills that will eventually be competitive swim strokes. There is no sidestroke or elementary backstroke taught in Starfish. More time is spent on preparing swimmers for good technique, such as swimming on the side and body rotation.
I am still a certified Instructor Trainer for Red Cross, and will still be able to write about Red Cross lessons, but I will also be adding Starfish to this blog.
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