Confident Swimmers,

Confident Kids.

YMCA Swim Lessons helps ALL individuals learn an important life skill and support them in gaining the knowledge, ability, and stamina to become strong and confident swimmer.

SPRING REGISTRATION

YMCA Member Registration:
March 25th

YMCA Community Registration:
April 1st

The Spring session will run from April 9th to May 14th, 2024

Please contact krunkle@cookcountyymca.org with questions.

Register

SESSIONS

Take a peek at our quick-look lesson schedule! 


YMCA Member: $58.50
Community: $99.50

Spring Session
Swim Starters

Ages 6 Months - 3 Years

In swim starters children develop body awareness, independence, water safety skills and comfort in the water through fun games, activities and confidence-building experiences. Parents and children also learn essential water safety skills. Close supervision is the best way to prevent drowning. Parents learn how to supervise children in the water, how to prevent accidents, and how to plan for emergencies.

Swim Basics; Stages 1 - 3

Ages 3 Years - 12 Years

In Swim Basics, students 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. By the end of this series of stages students will build endurance to be able to swim 15 yards each of their front stroke and back stroke as well at use the ‘swim, float, swim’ technique to swim 25 yards (one length of the pool) independently. Swimmers will also master the ‘jump, push, turn, grab’ self-rescue skill. Swimmers under the age of 5 must have a parent or adult caregiver in the water with them during lessons.

Swim Strokes; Stages 4 - 6

Ages 5 Years - 12 Years

In Swim Strokes, 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! Swimmers will learn and practice 6 key strokes; Front crawl, back crawl, breaststroke, butterfly, sidestroke and elementary backstroke. By the end of this series of stages students will have built the endurance to swim 150 yards using any combination of learned strokes.

Teen & Adult; Stages 1 - 6

Ages 13 Years - Adult

Teens & Adults develop swim skills, independence, comfort, and stroke skills. Participants will build technique and confidence to improve personal safety around water, as well as efficiency in the water, endurance and speed. 

Please contact Karen Runkle by email, krunkle@cookcountyymca.org, or by calling 218-387-3386 ext. 610 for more information about teen & adult lesson options.

SWIM LEVEL SELECTOR

Not sure where to start? Our guide will help make sure you are where you need to be.

Level Selector

 

PRIVATE & SEMI-PRIVATE LESSONS

Ages 5 Years - Adult

If you or your child have unique needs or goals that would be better met with one-on-one instruction, private or semi-private lessons may be available. Private swim lesson requests are filled as instructor availability permits, prioritizing requests for individuals with needs that are better accommodated in a one-on-one instructional setting. Once you’ve submitted the below application to the Cook County front desk, the Aquatics Coordinator will find an instructor for you. Please allow us time to find an instructor. Once an instructor is found, they will contact you to set up the very first swim lesson, from there you and the instructor will work together to find dates and times that work best for you.  Please note, for semi-private lessons, all participants should be of similar ability level. 

If you have additional questions or would like more information, please email Karen Runkle our Aquatics Coordinator at krunkle@cookcountyymca.org.

Download Form

Make A Splash Partner Information

In 2015, we became a local partner of the Make a Splash Program.  The USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash initiative is a national child-focused water safety campaign, which aims to provide the opportunity for every child in America to learn to swim. Through Make a Splash, the USA Swimming Foundation partners with learn-to-swim providers and water safety advocates across the country to provide swimming lessons and educate children and their families on the importance of learning how to swim. The USA Swimming Foundation has invested millions of dollars to provide grants to qualified Local Partner learn-to-swim programs, to spread national awareness, and to bring together strategic partners to end drowning.  To date, more than 3.4 million children have received the lifesaving gift of swim lessons through the USA Swimming Foundation Make a Splash Local Partner network. The Cook County Community YMCA is excited to be one of over 725 qualified lesson providers in the nation.