Swim Lessons Offered Year-Round at Natatorium

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There’s always something going on at the Mansfield ISD Natatorium. If swimming and diving competitions aren’t in session, children are usually using the facility to learn more about water safety.

“We offer swim lessons to the community from ages 4 to 14,” said Blake Kahla, MISD coach and swim school coordinator. “Our mission is to teach kids how to swim, so they can be safe in an aquatic environment.” 

Summer classes last for two weeks, ranging from a novice level 1 to an expert level 8. The goal is for participants to move up one level by the end of each session. 

According to Kahla, 95 percent of the instructors are MISD high school students. 

Each high school student is assigned two to four children.

He said it’s beneficial for all involved because the younger children can see what an advanced swimmer looks like while the older students can learn how to interact with beginners and their parents. 

“I just like seeing them happy, and they enjoy coming here and swimming with me,” said Jacqueline Green, an incoming senior at Lake Ridge High School. “My goal is to teach them something new. They might not understand the skill, but at least be confident enough in themselves to actually learn.”

During the school year, all MISD third-graders go to the natatorium to learn about water safety. 

The coach said the district offers year-round classes to build confidence and teach lifelong lessons in water safety so that children learn to be comfortable in both small and large bodies of water. 

For more information about natatorium classes, visit the facility website.

Lesson to All MISD 3rd Graders: "Think. Don't Sink."

The second-most common accidental death for kids under the age of 10 is drowning. That's why Mansfield ISD makes sure every third grader in the district takes a water safety class.

Since 2006, the date the MISD Natatorium opened, water safety classes have been offered to teach children what to do when they are around water.

The safety class lasts for about three hours. The first section consists of an instructor teaching the children the main rules of staying safe around water:

1. Think. Don't sink.
2. Look before you leap
3. Reach or throw. Don't Go. 

The second half of the class is when students put what they learned to the test. They get inside of the water and, depending on their swimming skills, pretend to rescue a coach and learn other safety tips.

Jerry Smith, diving coach and lead instructor, said he helped start the program to get a very important message across to children.

"Never get in the water with a drowning person," said Smith. "If we taught them that, then we just saved somebody's life."

Jerry Smith teaching water safety tips.

The classes start in third grade because most of the students are tall enough to touch the bottom of the shallowest part of the pool, which is 3-and-a-half feet. That is also the grade instructors say the students can comprehend most of the information.

Smith hopes that after each class, the students tell their parents and friends what they've learned so that the lessons of water safety spreads. Find out more information about the MISD Natatorium.