Just like riding a bike, learning to swim is a skill that stays with you for life. The aquatics team at Palatine Park District believes everyone deserves the opportunity to learn and improve in a setting that works best for them. Whether you are looking to make your first splash in the shallow end or continue to build endurance in the deep end, spending time in the pool has benefits for everyone.
As a life skill, learning how to swim has the potential to save lives through taking swim lessons and developing water competency. According to the American Red Cross “water competency is a way of improving water safety for yourself and those around you through avoiding common dangers, developing fundamental water safety skills to make you safer in and around the water.” As a purveyor of American Red Cross’s Learn To Swim program, Palatine Park District continues to encourage community members to take advantage of one of the varied lesson formats offered throughout the year.
From a fitness perspective, the water offers a low impact and low stress option for a cardiovascular workout. The Center for Disease Control states, “just two and a half hours per week of aerobic physical activity, such as swimming, bicycling, or running, can decrease the risk of chronic illnesses. This can also lead to improved health for people with diabetes and heart disease, swimmers have about half the risk of death compared with inactive people.” Adults looking to add swimming to their fitness repertoire can purchase an indoor pool pass for the Harper College Pool and enjoy open lap swim options throughout the day. Additionally, there are several aqua fitness classes that take place during the week. Purchasing a water aerobics punch pass allows users to attend classes that fit best with their schedule and explore all the options that the Palatine Park District offers. Check out our full schedule to see all available water aerobics classes.
In addition to the three outdoor pools during the summer season, Palatine Park District boasts a variety of aquatic programing for all ages throughout the year at the Foglia Foundation Health and Recreation Center located in building M at Harper College. The building plays host not only to Palatine Park District’s Learn To Swim program, but also the Palatine Tiger Sharks U.S. swim team, Windy City dive team, and an array of water fitness classes.
Group lessons offer the opportunity to learn with other swimmers of similar abilities in a comfortable setting. Lessons are structured following the American Red Cross Learn To Swim program starting with blowing bubbles and ending with refinement of the four competitive swim strokes. These classes run in 6-8 week sessions and are 40 minutes in length. The first day of each session begins with testing swimmers and putting them in appropriate levels prior to starting. Swimmers will be gauged on their comfort and independence level in the water as well their ability to swim front and back crawl to determine which level is the best fit for them.
New this year, are parent assisted lessons where students jump in the water with a parent or guardian and are provided with instruction and allowed to work at their own pace. This format allows for more time continuously practicing skills in a comfortable setting. The class is designed around the skills of the first 3 levels of our Learn To Swim program with the goal of swimming 15 yards independently on their front and back. Swim Lessons Levels 4-6 are a new way of grouping more advanced swimmers together in a learning environment. Swimmers of different levels will work on the same skills simultaneously while instructors give level appropriate feedback, making this perfect for developing swimmers.
Private lessons provide the most individualized instruction with an experienced instructor tailored to the specific needs of the swimmer. Private lessons can be scheduled as needed and are perfect for tweaking strokes and taking swimmers of any ability to the next level.
For more information about aquatic programs, or to register for classes, please visit click here. Questions concerning swim team can be directed to head swim coach Tony Gallagher. Dive team questions can be answered by Patrick Griffin. All other indoor aquatic programming questions, including private lessons requests can be sent to Anthony DeMichael.