Stroke School

Stroke School begins May 1, 2012

The Stroke School program is designed for experienced swimmers who want to improve stroke technique and stay in shape while swimming in a fun and competitive environment.
 

The cost of this program is $55 per child per month.
Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Practices take place at the G.T. Bray Aquatic Center.
 

Prerequisite:

  • Ages 6 through 18
  • Swim unassisted a minimum of 25 yard
  • Front crawl (with side breathing) and backstroke,
  • Cursory knowledge of the breaststroke and butterfly.

Stroke School introduces swimmers with limited swim team experience to competitive swimming and for advanced swimmers seeking to polish their stroke technique and prepare for competitive swimming during the school year.  Swimming instruction focuses on a wide variety of competitive swimming skills including: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, starts, turns and additional techniques related to competitive swimming. Particular emphasis is placed upon refining swimming technique for all strokes.

 

Stroke School is a part of the Suncoast Summer Swim League, which allows intermediate swimmers to compete against other local swimmers in similar programs around Manatee County.  While attending swim meets is encouraged, those swimmers who are simply looking for a good work out or wishing to improve technique should not feel pressured to compete, as this aspect of the program is completely optional.

 

Stroke School is led by coach Jeff Stoddard, a full-time aquatics professional with over 25 years experience in competitive swimming. Coach Jeff has been teaching swimming to children and adults of all ages for over a decade.  He is also a certified lifeguard and a competitive swimming official who has had several years experience coaching teams located in New York and Florida.