Your child is in good hands at Zwemclub ABC

Learning to swim is vital in our water-rich country. Not only do we live near water, but we also like to seek out the water. Therefore, it is important that children learn to swim from an early age. The basis of learning to swim is the Swim-ABC, a passport to a lifetime of swimming and water fun.

National Swimming Diplomas A, B and C

The Swimming ABC consists of three National Swimming Diplomas: A, B and C. The Swimming ADC is aimed at children from the age of 4. Swimming diplomas A and B are valuable intermediate steps, but once you have completed the complete Swimming ABC, you have become a true friend of the water. With the National Swimming Certificate C in your pocket, you meet the National Swimming Safety Standard.

The first set of swimming lessons

In the Swim-ABC, a lot of attention is paid in the beginning to making children water-free. This is a very important period. In it, the foundations are laid for learning to swim. Children learn to float on their chest and back, enter the water and climb out, turn from chest to back to chest, go underwater, look underwater and search. These things ensure that children learn about the water and become comfortable in it.

Many exercises are offered in game form, as that is the best way for young children to learn something. So don't think the child is just playing in the water. Every game has a purpose. After this period of becoming water-free, it is time for the next phase: swimming strokes.

Swim strokes and more skills

In the Zwem-ABC, children learn four swimming strokes from the start: single backstroke, breaststroke, breast crawl and back crawl. A lot of attention is paid to a variety of exercises in deep water, such as different ways of entering the water, swimming underwater, climbing and scrambling on a raft and going to the shore and to the bottom. These skills teach a child to be able to manage in unexpected situations and have fun in the water.

What can you do with which swimming certificate?

The National Swimming Safety Council has linked levels of swimming proficiency to National Swimming Diplomas. Your child does not meet the National Swim Safety Standard until swimming diploma C, with National Swimming Diplomas A and B being intermediate steps. These levels match the Dutch infrastructure of swimming waters where adults and children swim:

1. Swimming diploma A: you master skills for a pool without attractions.
2. Swimming diploma B: you master skills for a pool with attractions, such as a (wildwater) slide, a wave pool and a rapid.
3. Swimming diploma C: you master skills for a swimming pool with attractions and in open water without current or large waves, such as recreational lakes and wider ditches/canals (except in the sea). With this diploma, you meet the National Swimming Safety Standard.