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Hernando Today

From Snail To Dolphin

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By LINNEA BROWN

Hernando Today

Published: July 29, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - By the time most parents call Brooksville resident Kathy Wilson, they're getting desperate.
Their young child typically cries around water, is terrified of wearing a lifejacket and petrified of swimming — despite the fact that the family owns a pool. The family usually has their pool fenced off to prevent accidental slips, yet wishes they could breathe a little easier.
Enter Wilson and her specialized teaching method, deployed at residents' homes through her unique "AquaBabes with Kathy" program.
By the end of the first few classes, the tears are gone and many students are smiling, laughing and comfortable floating on their backs — a feat not easily accomplished for those with a fear of going under.
"It all depends, but some of their (progress) has been amazing," Wilson said. "I've got one 2 1/2-year-old who can swim the whole length of the pool by herself."
A former YMCA aquatics coordinator who spent years working as a Weeki Wachee mermaid, Wilson, 48, comes from a long lineage of water enthusiasts.
She credited her mother, a Spring Hill resident in her 70s, with developing the specialized teaching method decades ago while working as an aquatics director in Minnesota.
With classes organized by age and skill level, the method starts children swimming as early as six months old, and focuses on technique and skill through nine levels, from snail to dolphin.
"'Snail' is basically no more tears, getting used to wearing a lifejacket and being comfortable on their back, while 'dolphin' is being a (strong) swimmer," Wilson said.
The program focuses on employing proper strokes and breathing techniques to help kids gain strength and confidence as swimmers, she said.
The course is also designed to prepare students for real-life safety emergencies, such as falling into water with clothing and shoes on. At the "seahorse" level, kids are told to wear old clothing and do just that: jump into the pool fully-clothed.
"I had one 3-year-old who'd just done that (exercise), and a month later, he fell off a dock at Indian Rocks Beach and was able to get on his back and grab the ladder that was there," she said. "When I get stories like that back, it makes me really happy with what they can do."
Wilson said she often rewards students with a lollipop when they do well, and is working on getting special patches to give out when students pass each level. Either way, parents always get a progress report, she said.
Wilson, who has lived in the area since high school, learned the program from her mother and employed it at several area YMCA branches while teaching and working as aquatics coordinator in the 1990s.
When she left, the YMCA returned to its original teaching method, and she began teaching privately from her Brooksville home in 2001.
While some clients come to her, most prefer the convenience of classes at their own homes. Wilson said she travels as far as Lecanto and New Port Richey to teach and typically works with as many as 17 students per day, five days per week.
"I alternate swimsuits so they'll last me longer," Wilson joked, who often spends most of the day in her suit.
Word of the service has also spread through word of mouth, with numerous students who return each summer until they have passed though all the levels, she said.
"I get calls by the first of the year," Wilson said, who teaches from April to September.
Classes vary in price from $60 to $210 per child for eight classes, depending on the number of students per class. However, no class will contain more than four students.
For more information, call Wilson at 352-592-1335.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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