Hi. I want to get a good quality swim instructor who will teach and correct me in swimming (been swimming a lot but completely self-learned, very unprofessional). There are a lot of people advertising, but I have no way to know who's really good. I've seen some of the worst instructors in the pools I swam. So where do I look for good swimming instructors? (I've heard some say Total Immersion is good, but they charge a fortune for a brief course.)
So where do I look for them? How do the forum members here find their instructors or coaches? Only by joining the USMS? I don't trust craigslist ads LOL.
When I first joined USMS in 2010, I went to the pool at a community center and asked for a referral. They gave me the names of the coaches of the pool's two kids swim teams. It just so happened one of them was on deck coaching his team, so I spoke with him after practice. I asked Mike if he would be available for hire to coach me individually on stroke technique, and he agreed to set up 1-hour sessions on an as-needed basis. This worked out perfectly for me, and Mike Slotnick turned out to be an excellent coach.
I would suggest contacting your local community pool as well as pools in surrounding communities. Better yet, go down and watch the coach in action like I did and see if you think they would be a good fit beforeasking them if they are for hire. I was very impressed with how Mike handled his kids, and I knew he would be a good guy to work with individually.
Good luck!
:D
So where do I look for them? How do the forum members here find their instructors or coaches? Only by joining the USMS? I don't trust craigslist ads LOL.
When I first joined USMS in 2010, I went to the pool at a community center and asked for a referral. They gave me the names of the coaches of the pool's two kids swim teams. It just so happened one of them was on deck coaching his team, so I spoke with him after practice. I asked Mike if he would be available for hire to coach me individually on stroke technique, and he agreed to set up 1-hour sessions on an as-needed basis. This worked out perfectly for me, and Mike Slotnick turned out to be an excellent coach.
I would suggest contacting your local community pool as well as pools in surrounding communities. Better yet, go down and watch the coach in action like I did and see if you think they would be a good fit beforeasking them if they are for hire. I was very impressed with how Mike handled his kids, and I knew he would be a good guy to work with individually.
Good luck!
:D
