Q&A with Swim Instructor Shalene Hill
Photo Credit: Sheila Mraz Photography
By Meg Hale Brunton
Shalene Hill has been a swim instructor in Asheville, North Carolina since the Summer of 2012. She started her swim teaching career as WNC’s first Certified Infant Swimming Resource Instructor. Since that time, she has taught in various pools in and around Asheville and has developed a swim lesson structure and curriculum that involves storytelling and song to help address fears and anxieties associated with learning swim skills. She created this program by combining her love of singing, her studies in Waldorf Education, and her coursework in Music Therapy at Appalachian State University, with her training as an instructor for preschool gymnastics, Crossfit Kids, and Infant Swimming Resource.
Hill teaches out of Shalene’s Swim School through the Asheville Racquet Club. Though her availability is limited (particularly in the Spring and Summer), she offers year-round private and group classes to club members and non-members. She has also recently begun training instructors for her process. Her book, Safety, Smiles, then Skills is expected to come out in late 2024.
1. What is the ideal age to learn to swim?
There is this amazing training called ISR (Infant Swimming Resource). I was trained to be able to teach self-rescue swim skills to children, starting at the age of six months to six years. Once infants are six months old, they can learn how to float on their backs. Personally, I like to start private instruction at age four.
2. Are there any swim training methods you disapprove of?
Puddle-jumpers/swim-vests/floaties. They create a false sense of security and actually teach bad habits because the posture that’s being reinforced (hips down, head up) is a drowning-position. Floaties also keep children from fully engaging in their environment: the water. Lastly, they create a disconnect in connection because [parents] don’t have to focus on their child. The way I’m teaching means you are engaged with your child. We don’t just go to the pool so we can put our kids in puddle jumpers and sit on the deck and chat. They have to develop a healthy respect for the water and understand, if you step off the side, you’re going to go under. The water isn’t going to spit you back up like Moana. The best for them to understand that is by experiencing it. The water is the primary teacher!
3. Why is swim training so important for small children?
Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children, ages 1-4. I’m educating parents that when their children are in the water, they have to be right there. The structure of group sessions for swim lessons should involve the parents being close by, or preferably in the water participating.
4. What should a person look for in a swim instructor?
Not all swim lessons are created equal, for sure. Find out certifications and how long they’ve been teaching. Visit the lesson, don’t just sign your kids up. Know what you’re wanting and expecting from your swim lessons. Know that in order for your children to attain swim skills, it is going to take consistency. A series of once a week lessons will not do you much good unless you are getting in the water together outside of lesson to practice and explore. If you are going to sign up for swim lessons, be prepared to also get a membership to a pool so that you can go regularly.
5. What is your teaching process like?
I developed my own method of teaching swim instruction, which is story and song-based. My focus is Safety, Smiles, and then Skills. My goal is to create safe environments for independent exploration in the water. There are basic things that are going to help your child feel safe, and when you set up this environment properly, children will learn from their environment. Every swim lesson is exactly the same: a choreographed story, a song, three tries, and then we play.
6. What else are you working on besides teaching?
I’m writing a book: Safety, Smiles, then Skills: A Guide for Families and Swim Instructors to More Safe, Enjoyable and Effective Swim Instruction. The purpose of the book is to inspire families to start the process together, to trust themselves, to trust the process, and to realize the benefits of being in the water with their children. There’s so many benefits to it: the connection of families, the enjoyment of the water, the learning together are the primary focus for me in the water. The acquisition of skills is a by-product.
7. What is different about your teaching method?
The magic of storytelling and song is what sets me apart from any other swim program out there. I’m seeking to change the culture of families being in the water together. A lot of my mission is creating bonds of trust and communication in families. What I do in the water with children is help them uncover their own swim capabilities that are already in there. I want families to discover their own abilities to teach their children. You take the pressure off that by realizing that the water is the teacher. You don’t have to do a lot of coaching and cajoling, but you do need to be in the water, connected with your child.
