Level 6: Personal Water Safety

Purpose:
To refine strokes and swim them with more ease, efficiency, power, and smoothness over greater distances
To teach students how to prevent aquatic emergencies in various aquatic environments
To introduce and practice self-rescue techniques

Learning Objectives:
Increase endurance while performing the following strokes:
Front crawl–100 yards
Back crawl–100 yards
Butterfly–50 yards
Elementary backstroke–50 yards
Breaststroke–50 yards
Sidestroke–50 yards
Demonstrate the following turns while swimming:
Front crawl open turn
Backstroke open turn
Sidestroke turn
Front crawl flip turn
Backstroke flip turn
Butterfly turn
Breaststroke turn
Tread water, kicking only, in deep water (2 minutes)
Demonstrate a feet first surface dive and retrieve and object from a depth of 7 feet
Demonstrate the HELP position (2 minutes)
Demonstrate the huddle position (2 minutes)
Demonstrate a survival float in deep water (5 minutes)
Demonstrate a back float in deep water (5 minutes)
Demonstrate survival swimming (10 minutes)
Swim while clothed using any type of stroke, if time permits
Demonstrate self-rescue techniques while clothed, if time permits
Discuss basic safety rules for open water environment and boating

Certification Requirements:
Demonstrate competency in all required skills and activities, including in-water skills
Successfully complete the following exit skills assessment:
Swim 500 yards continuously using any 3 strokes of your choice, swimming at least 50 yards of each stroke
Jump into deep water, perform a survival float for 5 minutes, roll onto back, and perform a back float for 5 minutes
Swim 20 yards, perform a feet first surface dive, retrieve an object from the bottom of the pool at a depth of 7-10 feet, return to the surface, and swim 20 yards back to the starting point