Swimming lessons

These lessons focus on becoming comfortable and confident in the water through play — without practicing swimming strokes.

This is the first level, where children learn to feel comfortable and confident in the water through play while starting to develop their first swimming skills.

It includes activities such as going underwater, standing up independently, floating on their back and stomach, swimming with kicking legs, and learning the first phase of the elementary backstroke.

In this level, the focus is on leg movements. All leg kicks for the different swimming strokes are taught. For young children, coordinating arm and leg movements at the same time is quite complex — fine motor skills typically start developing around the age of four.

That’s why we take a step-by-step approach: just like learning to read, you first need to know the letters before forming words. Once the leg kicks (for back crawl, front crawl, breaststroke, and elementary backstroke) are properly learned, they become automatic. This allows the child to focus on adding the arm movements later on, creating a smooth and coordinated swimming technique.

At this stage, children begin to combine all swimming strokes. Arm movements are added to the leg techniques, focusing on proper coordination between arms and legs, body position, and gliding.

Except for a small float, no other swimming aids are used. Once the child can perform all movements with confidence and control, they’re ready to move on to the next group.

At this level, all swimming strokes (arm–leg combinations) are refined and stabilized. Children focus on perfecting each stroke, mastering the gliding phase, and building endurance and strength by swimming longer distances.

The only aid used — the small float — is gradually phased out. Children also begin learning to do a forward roll from the pool edge to improve their orientation and disorientation skills when entering the water.

This is the A Diploma level. At this stage, all strokes must be performed with 100% accuracy. Children also learn diving techniques, including diving through a hoop positioned three meters away.

Note: According to the MISI standards (Masters in Swimming Instruction), diving is not yet a requirement for the A Diploma.

However, we introduce it here — and in the previous level — to maintain a high standard and build a strong foundation. Each lesson is practiced while wearing clothes (short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and shoes), which makes the step toward earning the B Diploma much smaller.

This is the B Diploma level. Swimming distances increase, as does the distance for the underwater dive — and diving is now mandatory.

All four strokes are performed with more power and precision, and the children become much more self-reliant in the water. Each lesson is again practiced while wearing clothes — for B, this means long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, and shoes.

This is the C Diploma level. Distances increase once again, and the set of required exercises becomes more extensive. The main focus here is on self-rescue — what to do if you fall into open water while wearing clothes.

Lessons are again conducted with clothing, this time adding a rain jacket on top of the B outfit.

The C Diploma is considered the real, official diploma of the Dutch Swim ABC program. Only after earning the C Diploma can a child truly be called a friend of the water.