Swim America
Skills Progression & Advancement Goals

Station 1 - "Bubbles"
Skills to be learned
  1. Gradual water adaptation
  2. Movement in the water
  3. Breath holding and release
  4. Submersion of the face
  5. Opening eyes underwater
  6. Blowing bubbles
  7. Bobbing with bubbles and air exchange
  8. Basic kicking skills
Advancement Goals
  1. 10 relaxed bobs
Station 2 - "Floats & Glides"
Skills to be learned
  1. Front float and recover
  2. Front glide and recover
  3. Back float and recover
  4. Back glide and recover
  5. Basic kicking skills
Advancement Goals
  1. Front glide and recover - 5 seconds
  2. Back glide and recover - 5 seconds
Station 3 - "Kicking"
Skills to be learned
  1. Porpoising
  2. Front kick, glide, and recover
  3. Back kick, glide, and recover
  4. dolphin kick, glide, and recover
Advancement Goals
  1. Front kick - 15 feet
  2. Back kick - 15 feet
Station 4 - "Crawl Stroke"
Skills to be learned
  1. Rollover - front to back, back to front
  2. Finning and sculling
  3. Side-glide-kick
  4. Crawl armstroke
Advancement Goals
  1. side-glide-kick - 20 ft
  2. Crawl stroke - 20 ft (no breathing)
Station 5 - "Freestyle"
Skills to be learned
  1. Crawl stroke with breathing
  2. Back crawl stroke
Advancement Goals
  1. Crawl stroke with breathing
    (30+ feet, 4+ breaths)
Station 6 - "Backstroke"
Skills to be learned
  1. Extended freestyle swimming
  2. Tread water
  3. Jump in and tread water
  4. Sitting dive
  5. Kneeling dive
  6. Standing dive
Advancement Goals
  1. Swim freestyle 75 ft
  2. Swim backstroke 30 ft
  3. Tread water for 1 minute
Station 7 - "Breaststroke & Butterfly"
Skills to be learned
  1. Breaststroke kick
  2. Breaststroke swim
  3. Butterfly arms
  4. Butterfly swim
Advancement Goals
  1. Swim freestyle 50 yards
  2. Swim backstroke 25 yards
  3. Kick breaststroke 20 ft
Station 8 - "Turns"
Skills to be learned
  1. Freestyle with bilateral breathing
  2. Turns
Advancement Goals
  1. Swim freestyle for 100 yards
    (bilateral breathing 25+ yards)
  2. Swim 25 yards breaststroke
  3. Swim 30 ft butterfly
Station 9 - "Lifetime strokes"
Skills to be learned
  1. Sidestroke kick
  2. Sidestroke swim
  3. Elementary backstroke
Advancement Goals
  1. Swim 200 yards freestyle with at least 50 yards bilateral breathing
  2. Swim 25 yards butterfly
  3. Swim 50 yards breaststroke
  4. Swim 50 yards elementary backstroke
  5. Swim 50 yards sidestroke
Station 10 - "Individual Medley"
Skills to be learned
  1. Extended swimming and technique refinement in all major strokes and turns
Advancement Goals
  1. Swim 300 yards freestyle
  2. Swim 100 yards backstroke
  3. Swim 100 yards individual medley