Introduction To Open Water Swimming - Level 1 Swim England Workshop

Your first step into the world of open water & triathlon Swimming working to achieve your Swim England Level 1 Open Water Certificate (and shiny badge, we all like a shiny badge.......right)

South West Swim are the leading provider of Open Water Swim, Triathlon Swim & Pool Swim Coaching in the Swindon & Cotswolds area.  Our team are fully qualified swim coaches and swim teachers with vast amounts of open water and triathlon experience.  We have delivered sessions to all levels of the swimming spectrum, from adult and child learn to swim through to regional, national and world achievers and champions in both swimming and triathlon. 

We are proud to offer our fully coached Introduction sessions for the 2023 season and are confident that our introduction sessions are unrivalled in their content and delivery.  Our coaches will be with you in / on the water at all times, you will receive pre session materials to prepare you for your first swim.  After the session we will send online resources and support to assist your swimming further and continue your development.  All our materials and methods are constantly reviewed for best practice and skills and safety relevance.

The Details
This Level 1 workshop will swim your way to your Swim England Level 1 certificate in Open Water Swimming and provide you with the skills and confidence to take to the water by yourself, tackle your first Open Water or Triathlon event, or just educate and improve the swim of the non competitive swimmer looking for that new and exciting challenge. 

This workshop is around 1.5 hours in duration, actual water time will vary depending on the water temperature at the time of the session.  

This session will cover

• Safety / Session brief, including venue specific safety
• Putting on your wetsuit - making the dark art of getting rubber on your body as simple as 1-2-3-4
• Safe Entry / Exit of the water
• Acclimatisation and breathing control
• Self Rescue & Emergency actions
• Basic Sighting Action for front crawl swimmers
• Group Swimming Familiarisation / Drafting
• Common start & finish techniques
• 200m Test Swim (part of the Level 1 Certificate sign off process)
• The Syllabus of the Swim England Level 1 Certificate in Open Water Swimming.  This is ONLY passed if the swimmer completes all of the content in the course, including online questions (link sent nearer the course date)

You will need 

To participate all swimmers will need to be aged 18 or over and bring with them:

• Aged 18 or over (sessions for 11-17 year olds are available on a 1-to-1 basis)
• To be able to swim at lease 200m of any stroke (note; most of the skills based work in this session is front crawl based)
• A Swimsuit
• A Wetsuit (triathlon/swimming suit NOT a tri suit) – optional on SWS coaches written approval in temperatures over 20 degrees plus but recommended for these sessions due to the stop start nature of skills development. 
• Goggles
• Bright coloured swim cap (or two), A south West Swim hat is available to purchase at 50% off, contact us before the session to arrange purchase.
• Swimming gloves and booties are optional.
  
• Towel or Changing Robe.  We recommend the Ddipp robes, save 10% using our special discount code SWSWIM-10
• A swimming tow float, such as the Swim Secure Tow Float / Dry Bag Range. Don't worry if you don't have your own, we can loan you one for your session or they are available from us to purchase at a discounted rate (5% off).  Contact us before the session to arrange purchase.
  
• A drink, hot or cold depending on the weather.  Get an exclusive 15% discount from our friends at Precision Fuel and hydration

Want to develop further?

After your Level 1 course we can also offer our Introduction to Race Skills Level 2 course to take your swimming to the next level, working towards the Swim England Level 2 Certificate in Open Water Swimming.

About South West Swim, Our Coaches and Our Delivery

See information in the special instructions below to find out more

Introduction To Open Water Swimming - Level 1 Swim England Workshop

Your first step into the world of open water & triathlon Swimming working to achieve your Swim England Level 1 Open Water Certificate (and shiny badge, we all like a shiny badge.......right)

About South West Swim, Our Coaches and Our Delivery

South West Swim is the longest established Open Water Coaching Company in the Cotswolds and has coached thousands of swimmers in the lakes of the cotswolds and pool since 2014.  Our workshops are delivered by Jason Tait, South West Swims head coach and one of the very first in the UK to hold not one, but two recognised Open Water Coaching Qualifications.  Jason is a specialist in open water swimming, triathlon swimming and an expert in stroke correction with SwimSmooth. He is a fully qualified Swim Coach and Swim teacher with Swim England, An open water coach with both Swim England and the STA, and is a qualified open water lifeguard.  Jason also sat on the STA governing body team that developed the award winning STA Open Water Coaching Qualification that many coaches sit to become qualified themselves.  

Jason is supported where needed by South West Swims other open water specialist, Swim England Coach, teacher, Open Water coach & open water lifeguard Colin Jones, and our lifeguard team (as needed, depending on swimmer numbers). Whatever level you swim at you could not be in better hands with two very experienced coaches helping your journey.  

Remember to Bring 

• A Swim Suit
• A Wetsuit (triathlon/swimming/watersports wetsuit,  NOT a tri suit) – optional on SWS coaches written approval in temperatures over 20 degrees plus but recommended for these sessions due to the stop start nature of skills development. 
• Goggles
• Bright coloured swim cap (or two), A south West Swim hat is available to purchase at 50% off, contact us before the session to arrange purchase.
• Swimming gloves and booties are optional.
  
• Towel or Changing Robe.  We recommend the Ddipp robes, save 10% using our special discount code SWSWIM-10
• A swimming tow float, such as the Swim Secure Tow Float / Dry Bag Range. Don't worry if you don't have your own, we can loan you one for your session or they are available from us to purchase at a discounted rate (5% off).  Contact us before the session to arrange purchase.
  
• A drink, hot or cold depending on the weather.  Get an exclusive 15% discount from our friends at Precision Fuel and hydration

Cancellation Policy for this Session
This session must be cancelled 5 days before the start time of the session.  Cancellations after this time are classed as late cancellations and the session fee will be taken, in full, as if attended.  Cancellations within the cancellation window will mean the session credit, or value of the session will be returned to the swimmers booking profile for use in another session.  No refunds are offered for any of our sessions, as per our T&C's.