At a great price of just £8.99 or £12.99 our Aqua Sphere Goggle range in an array of cool colours is the perfect way to kick start your child’s new swimming term.

Regarded as “the most comfortable children’s goggle in the market.” They will be a great addition to that packing list for your summer holidays as we like our children to  practice all their swimming skills as often as possible, and to show off their underwater swimming to parents/carers!

For a limited time only Click here to purchase

Alongside the main activity camps, there is a morning football camp at both locations with the option to stay in the activity camp for the afternoon session. Camps run from 10-4pm, with Extra-Time available if required.

Cullercoats Primary School

June Half-Term Camp (Weds 6th-Friday 8th June)

Summer Week 1 (27th July- 3rd August)

Summer Week 2 (6th-10th August)

Summer Week 3 (13th-17th August)

Gosforth Central Middle School

Summer Week 1 (23rd-27th July)

Summer Week 2 (6th-10th August)

Summer Week 3 (13th-17th August)

For more information or to book, visit the SportNE website, or contact us 

 The day will start at Haltwhistle outdoor heated swimming pool.  Here you will be coached in a controlled environment focusing on swim technique and open water skills such as sighting, turns and drafting.  Next you will progress into open water swim practical sessions at Talkin Tarn, Brampton.  Throughout the day the practical sessions will be complimented with presentations covering a range of topics relevant to open water swimming.  Full safety and lifeguard cover is provided for the duration of the day. For more information and booking details follow: http://www.mvsport.co.uk/latest-news/news-item-2.html

Monday 2nd- Thursday 5th April 2012.

Activity Camp 10-4pm

Football Camp 10-1pm (with the option to join the main camp for the afternoon session.

SportNE provide multi-activity camps for 5-12 year olds, offering the chance to learn new skills, try out new activities and build confidence and friendship through our structured activities focusing on our 5 core values;

• Teamwork
• Communication
• Leadership
• Fair-play
• FUN!

Our program involved 30 activities, each planned to give the children the opportunity to learn and understand new games and rules and develop sports and movement skills. All of our sessions are based around coached practices in a fun environment, with added challenges, competitions and prizes across the week.

For more information or booking, please click here or call us on 0191 281 7678

 #1. Bath-time backstroke

For your little swimmer to be able to swim independently on their backs, they need to be able to maintain a relaxed position in the water, with their head back. The swimmers head position is the key and without the correct head position, swimming on their backs will be tough.

So…what is the correct head position? The swimmer should be looking up at the ceiling, ears underwater with the hair wet, the swimmers face will be out of the water.

Often in the early stages, swimmers do not like the feeling of having both ears underwater for a long period. Build this up slowly, start with getting one ear wet, then the other, then try 2 ears at the same time for a short period. As with all their swimming, it is all about the child’s discovery of the water and their bodies. Once they realise it isn’t so bad after all, then they won’t hesitate and will happily get their ears wet.

Practice in the bath, lay backwards, try and put your head back until both ears are just under the water. If you bathe together, sing songs underwater and see if they can hear. It is all about trickery and deceit, we want the swimmers to think they are playing a game, when in-fact they are developing the skills to allow them to swim!

Now that your little swimmer is happy putting their head back, we need to try and get them to relax in this position. Practice with eyes open and eyes closed, practice while singing loudly, singing quietly. Hopefully this will allow them to relax a little and the singing will ensure they are breathing (we often see swimmers holding their breaths while swimming backstroke!).

Once your little swimmer is happy and relaxed, you can add in tip #3. See if they can add the kick while maintaining the correct and relaxed head position.

#2. Get your goggles on!

Goggles are a great tool to assist in the development of the swimmer and a little bit of practice at home will ensure they are comfortable, allowing the swimmer to use them in their lessons without realising they are even wearing them! Wearing goggles allows the swimmer to see underwater, which not only helps improve confidence underwater, they can see their bubbles and arms while swimming (sometimes a child thinks they are doing something correctly until they can actually see it!)

When using them for the first time, it can cause a little bit of panic- it is very unnatural to be able to open your eyes underwater and see clearly. Again, using a bit of trickery can work a treat. Play a game to encourage the swimmer to put their face in and open their eyes (if they are just starting to wear goggles, the chances are that even though the goggles are on, their eyes will still be closed!). Using objects of different colours,  ask the swimmer to look underwater, once their eyes are wet, put one of the objects underwater in front of their face and ask them to shout out the colour that they have seen in the water. To make it a little harder, practice alongside tip #? And ask the swimmer to shout out the colour with their mouth underwater!

Comfort is very important with the goggles. While they do offer a helping hand to the swimmer, they can often also provide some disruption, with goggles leaking, steaming up or feeling uncomfortable on their face. There are a lot of cheap goggles available, it is well worth spending an extra few pounds on goggles. Not only will they be longer lasting, they will be more comfortable and allow the swimmer to keep them on their eyes for longer without fiddling around with them! We recommend Aquasphere goggles, such as the Moby Kids or Seal Kids goggles, as they are comfortable and easy to tighten/loosen.

We want the little swimmer to forget they are even wearing goggles, so if you get chance, wear them at home and in the bath and hopefully, they will forget they have them on!

It is probably worth putting a few towels down on the floor before trying this one! Swimmers use the same style of leg kick when swimming frontcrawl and backstroke. In tips #2 and 3, we have practiced the head positions which are vital to gaining the correct body position to allow independent swimming. Even if these head positions are perfect, a bendy kick will prevent the swimmer from achieve a relaxed streamline position. While kicking with straight legs might sound like a simple thing to do, for a young child that is used to walking, running and maybe even riding a bike, this is an unnatural action that takes a bit of practice!

How do we kick our legs in frontcrawl and backstroke?

With straight legs  (only a very slight bend of the knee allowed!), ask the swimmer to tickle the top of the water with their toes. They need to make their ankles and feet relaxed, to allow them to catch the water like a dolphins fin. Put your hand on top of their knees, just above the water, if their knees touch your hand- give them a splash! To make this a little more fun, get a pair of dad’s smelly socks and see if they can shake them off with their straight legs!

Practice makes perfect, so give it a go and see if this movement becomes a little more natural. Often, the little swimmer may think their legs are nice and straight, but once they start to move their arms and concentrate on blowing bubbles at the same time (a lot of moving parts for the child to coordinate) the leg technique will suffer. The more natural this action becomes, the more time the swimmer can spend concentrating on their arm action and breathing.

Sessions will be both be lake and sea-based and cater for anything from first time open water swimmers to advanced triathletes.

The sessions are wetsuit only- we sell a range of wetsuits and accessories, contact us for more info.

Neil@mvsport.co.uk, phil@swimne.co.uk, 0191 2817678