Spectator Frustration

I found myself getting really frustrated while watching Stephen's swimming lesson today. The level 4 instructor he had last week, Kerri, told me on Thursday that she would not be teaching this week but would be back for the morning lessons later in July. Yesterday and today, Stephen ended up with one of the relatively new teachers, a girl named Alison. She seems nice...too nice, really, which is part of the problem. The best teachers the boys have had have been those who do not hesitate to exert some control over their class. Alison needs to do the same.

The width of the section in which Alison's group of four kids practice is about one third of the total pool width. A lane line marks the boundary. Alison is supposed to work with one of the kids at a time, teaching each to move his or her arms in a freestyle stroke across the pool to the lane line and back. The rest of the kids are supposed to wait by the pool wall for their turn. The problem is that there are two rather adventurous girls in the group who like to swim away from the wall while Alison is working with another student. One girl in a turquoise bathing suit was particularly persistent today. At least a half dozen times during the thirty-minute lesson, Alison had to stop working with another child, retrieve the runaway swimmer from the lane line, and return her to the side of the pool.

"Why doesn't Alison just tell the kids to stay put?" I fumed. "And where is this girl's mother?" I wouldn't let my boys disrupt the lesson in that way. In fact, Stephen, influenced by Miss Turquoise, once tried swimming out from the wall, but I immediately went to the side of the pool and called him back.

"Stay by the side of the pool until it is your turn," I admonished him. "It's distracting for Alison and the other kids to have you swimming out." I spoke rather louder than necessary, hoping the girl's mother would overhear and take the hint. She never seemed to notice the problem, however.

I was becoming so annoyed by the whole experience that finally I gave up on watching the level 4s and moved down the side of the pool to the deep end to watch Daniel's level 6 class. I cheered up when I noticed how much Daniel's freestyle has improved. As recently as last week, he was taking very long breaths and nearly rolling over on his back, which threw off his rhythm. Now, however, he is not lifting his head as much and he is starting to take shorter breaths. While still not as fluid and graceful as his backstroke, his freestyle looks much better. As does his diving. He was the only one in his group of three students who is actually diving in head first instead of bellyflopping. He just needs to give himself more of a pushoff with his feet

When the class was over, I found Lauri, the director of the program, and told her about the problem in Alison's group. She asked me to point out the girl in turquoise and promised to take care of the problem. I'd hate to be perceived as a whining parent; but I think Lauri knows Tab and me well enough by now to know that I wouldn't trouble her unless I had a valid complaint.

<<previous : email me : index : next>>