How much total did you pay for your kid's swimming lessons to be legal in 4 strokes?

[Anonymous]

My 8 years old daughter had been taken swimming classes at Fairfax county Rec center since she was 4 and joined a summer swim team (NVSL) this year. She did OK in free and back strokes, got DQs in breast, and not legal in fly. We got her a few private lessons with a teenage coach at the pool and signed her up for a developmental program (Swim with Beth). In talking to older kids' parents, I know club swim fees can go up to thousands.

We are only interested in getting her legal in four strokes for summer swim. I know it depends on the kid, how fast they learn, but in average/ball park, how much did you pay in swimming lessons to get them to that point?

[Anonymous]

We paid a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Where are you located?

[Anonymous]

This is really going to vary wildly depending on your child’s coordination.

[Anonymous]

Stroke school through NCAP when they were 7? We did it for a year. About 1k or so I think. It’s been a while since then, so it may be more expensive and/or unavailable now. Some kids pick up technique more quickly than others though.

Also, fly is hard and the most common DQ has to do with getting the arms out of the water simultaneously which takes some strength. My kid wins it in their age group in summer swim and still has technique issues (legal, but serious flaws even after years of club swim)

I’d look into winter swim with your summer pool if they offer it.

[Anonymous]

The fairfax rec classes are hard to actually progress in strokes. The quality of the teachers (and consistency of actually having lessons) is really mixed and it's a large class size in most cases. We did private lessons/swim school until DS was 6 then he was legal in free and back and able to do summer swim team. That fall he did the minis for a year-round team and was legal in breast and fly by the following summer for swim team.

[Anonymous]

Prepare your kid to ask questions if she doesn't understand what the SWB coaches are trying to teach her. My shy 6/7 year old did not achieve legal breaststroke last fall/winter with SWB (3 sessions), but grasped it within the first two weeks of summer swim. Does your summer team have a winter program? Just getting in the water 2x/week rather than once might make the biggest difference.

[Anonymous]

We paid nothing. Kids taught themselves with some help from husband then joined a summer swim team and quickly improved.

[Anonymous]

$60/week for an hour a week private lessons plus two day a week group lessons for about 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prepare your kid to ask questions if she doesn't understand what the SWB coaches are trying to teach her. My shy 6/7 year old did not achieve legal breaststroke last fall/winter with SWB (3 sessions), but grasped it within the first two weeks of summer swim. Does your summer team have a winter program? Just getting in the water 2x/week rather than once might make the biggest difference.

Thanks for the tip. My kid is sensitive and shy as well. I'll ask her to speak up. My pool has a winter program (1hr/week), unfortunately my kid is more likely to be coached by the same summer lane/age group coach. They are more of a lap/endurance coach, i.e., telling swimmers what stroke to swim and a number of laps without any actual coaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 8 years old daughter had been taken swimming classes at Fairfax county Rec center since she was 4 and joined a summer swim team (NVSL) this year. She did OK in free and back strokes, got DQs in breast, and not legal in fly. We got her a few private lessons with a teenage coach at the pool and signed her up for a developmental program (Swim with Beth). In talking to older kids' parents, I know club swim fees can go up to thousands.

We are only interested in getting her legal in four strokes for summer swim. I know it depends on the kid, how fast they learn, but in average/ball park, how much did you pay in swimming lessons to get them to that point?


My kids all did Swim With Beth 10 years ago. Highly recommend to get good strokes

[Anonymous]

Jo Vera at Tsunami Swim

[Anonymous]

Second the recommendation for Tsunami swim school. Daughter really grew a lot as a swimmer in 1 year. Had a male coach and very small group (orcas, I think)

[Anonymous]

Pp here. It was about $300 a session, 8-10 weeks. But that was pre-Covid, at least 6 years ago. Daughter did 2 sessions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We paid nothing. Kids taught themselves with some help from husband then joined a summer swim team and quickly improved.

My kids learned from family and summer swim, but since summer swim costs money, i don't see how that's paying nothing.

I paid for several years of summer pool membership, lots of weekend trips to the public indoor pool and the first year of summer swim before they were legal in all 4 strokes. But I didn't pay for lessons.