Posted October 29, 2021
Halloween is approaching and Swimming Safari is ready for one of our favorite yearly traditions: swimming with pumpkins in the pool! The kids’ faces light up when they get to swim class and see REAL pumpkins in the pool!
Although this may seem like a silly concept, swimming with pumpkins in the pool has a variety of benefits. Having pumpkins in the pool demonstrates to swimmers that even things that may seem heavy can float!
Our instructors have come up with endless games over the years with the pumpkins! Placing pumpkins on their students’ kickboards and kicking across the pool with a pumpkin buddy, throwing the pumpkins and seeing them float up to the top of the water, and more!
Swimming with the pumpkins in the pool is also a wonderful sensory experience and activity for children of all ages and abilities. It’s even educational! Pumpkins in the pool are a great way to teach and learn about buoyancy!
After their lesson with pumpkins in the pool, our swimmers ask mom and dad when they can come back to swim with the pumpkins again! We wish Halloween and…
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Posted September 08, 2021
Florida passing the Bill “Every Child A Swimmer” law, is welcome news for all children, families, and swim lesson providers across the state. Anything that brings awareness to the problem is appreciated! We all want to bring an end to childhood drowning. The bill stresses the importance of children learning to swim. Many studies have shown swim lessons reduce childhood drowning by 88%. Florida, leads the country in unintentional drownings for children ages 0-4 and this year, is on pace to hit a 10-year high in child drownings for 2021. Florida has already recorded 70 child drownings this year, as of Aug. 30, surpassing totals for all of 2020 (69) and 2019 (65), according to Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) data. Of those 70 drownings, 63% involved children aged three and under. The data also reveals that Duval County is the 4th in line of all of Florida counties, followed behind Osceola, Broward & Polk County.
While “Every Child A Swimmer” doesn’t require or mandate swim lessons, it creates awareness among parents of their responsibility to teach their kids how to swim.
In simple language, the parents of each child entering kindergarten will be asked IF they have given their child swim…
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Posted May 12, 2021
What makes a great instructor? It starts with a great person; someone who is genuine and real, candid and open. A great instructor is one who is kind, honest, and respectful. This was Eric Bass: a young man with a heart of gold and a spirit of gratitude and kindness. Taken too soon at age 33, Eric did amazing things during his time on Earth and his legacy will live on at Swimming Safari Swim School, through our Memorial Scholarship Fund with Hope Floats Foundation to benefit underprivileged children.
Joani Maskell, owner of Swimming Safari Swim School, remembering Eric Bass: “Eric was one of Swimming Safari’s very first instructors. He started when we were still teaching out of backyards when my first instructors were my children and their friends. He met my son in pre-school, and they would remain close friends for life. Eric had an easygoing, warm demeanor. He was so fun to be around and always made us feel like the best versions of ourselves. I watched Eric grow up from a kid with a headful of curly blonde hair doing cannonballs into my pool, to becoming a man I was proud to…
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Posted April 26, 2021
Hope Floats Foundation is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent drownings by providing scholarships for swim lessons. For those in need. Hope Floats mission is to help ALL childrenlearn to swim. They do this by partnering with swim schools that have been successful in teaching swimming in the local community. The equivalent of thirteen school buses full of children die each year in the United States due to drowning.
Studies at the National Institute of Health show that swim lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88%.
“There’s a huge need for swim lessons, and the kids that need them the most – lower socio-economic level kids – they’re not getting them,” said Cindy Tonnesen, founder of the Hope FloatsFoundation. She continued, “We are saving kids, but there are more we need to reach, and we have the ability and resources to do it.”
“Swimming Safari Swim School is excited to pay it forward in our community and we’re excited to support and <…
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Posted January 12, 2021
In troubling new numbers, significantly fewer kids in 2020 compared to the year before, are learning how to swim in NE Florida because of the pandemic. It’s concerning for families and swim teachers, with drowning consistently one of the leading causes of deaths among kids, and Florida is one of the top states annually for drownings. This year the numbers have increased dramatically.
Albert Passavanti, knows how important swim lessons are. Two summers ago, a video of him diving into his pool to save his one-and-a-half-year-old son, Rocco, went viral.“It really hit us to the core saying wow our child that can’t swim just fell in the pool. Thank god we were out there,” Passavanti said in an interview. Some parents have had their kids swimming in lessons since they were about one and haven’t stopped through the pandemic.
“I think the risk of drowning or a drowning experience are a lot greater than the risk of Covid,” said one parent. But other parents have been avoiding the water since the Pandemic started.
Joani Maskell owner of Swimming Safari Swim School says she has made lots of changes.…
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Posted October 15, 2020
The Safari difference: Connecting with our students
We have long been aware that swimming is a fantastic sport because of health benefits, particularly to the cardiovascular system. However, a recent international study on movement education and a longitudinal studies on the early years of swimming, by professor Robyn Jorgenson, in Australia, shows that swimming has many more benefits.
In Professor Jorgenson’s study, she concludes that early years of swimming builds social, emotional, physical, and intellectual capital.
It is important that our swimming teachers are competent, confident and able to engage with young children to best take advantage of these benefits. The best swimming teachers have a mixture of knowledge and communication skills.
Great Swimming Teachers Engage Their Pupils
Many people know how to swim, but it takes a special person to share this knowledge with others and cultivate their lifelong love of swimming. Though every swim instructor has his or her own style and personality, all great teachers share certain skills and qualities.
At Swimming Safari Swim School our instructors are our most important asset, and we’re proud of developing…
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Posted September 10, 2020
Keeping your family safe is your priority right now and we want to let you know it’s also our priority, as well! -Your Swimming Safari Guides
Can you believe summer vacation is coming to an end? Certainly, a different type of summer vacation, this year! When planning your fall schedules, you might be wondering what activities should fit into the picture, that are safe. How do you choose between limiting your child’s exposure to others and teaching them to have skills you want them to develop? The answer is you choose an activity that will be essential for them throughout their life, as well as, fun and safe! This would be, of course, Swim Classes! And the best thing to do is to choose a Swim School that is aware of your concerns AND has taken precautions to protect their students and families!
Swimming Safari Swim School - We are here for you!
Here are a few reasons why it’s a good idea to include swim classes into your back to school routine.
…
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Posted June 26, 2020
We are now offering Spot TV as an alternative way of viewing your child’s lesson! Keeping our families connected and involved without the needed floor space, foot traffic, distractions, or physical closeness in the facility.
With Spot TV you can:
View classes while waiting in your car!
Share Spot TV with another parent! (Only 1 parent per family is allowed in the facility at once, so the other parent can view with Spot TV)
Share Spot TV with a loved one who would love to watch your child’s lesson!
Watch your child’s lesson while practicing social distancing!
(Search the App Store for Spot TV Family or click download button below)
How Do I Get Started?
Step 1: Download the Free Mobile app
Step 2: On the App’s home screen, select the button ”New here? Sign Up” to complete your registration.
Step 3:After creating an account, choose a Preschool. Your preschool selection will be Swimming Safari Swim School
…
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Posted May 15, 2020
Hello Swimming Safari Families!
Dear Swimming Safari Families,
We want to welcome you back soon and share with you our reopening procedures!
We have been busy cleaning and preparing the building for your return, and we will be employing new policies and procedures to help keep you and your children as safe as possible during this unprecedented time. As we begin the reopening process, we recognize that in order to be successful, a strong partnership with you will make a tremendous difference in how we move forward with the new challenges that face us. The situation is fluid; updates and changes to policies may occur. Please read this over with your family to prepare everyone for their return to…
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Posted March 15, 2020
Thank you to The Women’s Business Owners of North Florida!
Sometimes swimming lessons can seem like a luxury that some families cannot afford. Parents understand the need to teach their children to swim, but if they can’t afford to enroll their children, these children can be missing out on a vital life-saving skill. Parents might try their hardest to give their own lessons at the public pool, or find a cheaper alternative, but sometimes these can fall short compared to formal lessons with a certified school. Too many stories hit the news about children drowning and too many families are suffering at the loss of their children. But, recently, thanks to the Women’s Business Owners of North Florida www.wbonfl.org this story changed for ten families. The organization helped to raise $2000 which was donated to families that desperately needed it. Now these children and their families know the proper skills to have fun and be safe in the water.
At Swimming Safari, we understand how beneficial swim lessons can be for babies and children and believe that every child should have the right to…
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