Important information

Little Splashes (Pty) Limited has been born/built after 13 years of teaching children a love and respect for water, as well as a passion for the sport of swimming. Our philosophy is that teaching a child to swim should never be done at the expense of their emotional or physical well-being. Submersion is approached with caution and sensitivity. We believe that harsh, forceful methods should be avoided at all costs as an anxious child cannot learn. There is no quick fix when it comes to learning to swim and there is no such thing as a ‘drown-proofed’ child. Since every child is different, each one is taken at his or her own pace and children learn to swim and practice their skills through play and praise. This prompts behaviour that becomes increasingly sophisticated over time. Although children between the ages of 3 and 4 years old may be waterborne and able to swim in their own unique manner, they are developmentally not capable of coordinating or mastering formal swimming strokes until much later. We do not try to enforce specific styles of swimming on children at this stage as it stifles their initiative and takes all the joy out of swimming. It also lessens the chance of resourceful behaviour in the event of danger. Once skills have become learned responses to the aquatic environment, children are then taught to extend and build on their swimming ability in preparation for competitive swimming. We believe in and adhere to Long Term Athlete / Participant Development (LTAD / LTPD). The emphasis on our training and our aim and focus is always on quality and not quantity. It is also our firm belief that swimmers will not reach their full potential in the sport unless they have participated in an effective stroke development programme. Swimmers must know and understand the FINA rules, and various stroke drills and be proficient in all four of the legal strokes, starts and turns before they are referred for long-distance training. Placing a child into a full-on endurance programme prematurely may result in sports injuries so this is approached with discretion. Swimmers also need to be physically, emotionally and developmentally ready for this transition so that they do not “burn out” and to ensure that we do not lose the to the sport of swimming.