Photo Credit: Courtesy of Nathan Swanson, City of Garland
The summer of 2005 began like most other summers for the city of Garland’s Aquatics Division in Texas. Management hired and trained staff, ordered supplies, issued uniforms, and cleaned and readied the pools for opening day. Then officials made a radical change--for the first time in more than 50 years, the summer swim-instruction program was brought in-house. The major objective of the new program was to enable more patrons to participate by keeping costs low.
This seemed to be a viable solution to the puzzle of how to provide an affordable, high-quality program for patrons while overcoming the obstacle of spiraling costs associated with using an outside agency’s curriculum. By simply utilizing the experienced staff already in place, the city developed its own program and teacher-certification process, beginning with a parent-tot class and extending through to the swim team and classes for adults.
At the time the switch was made, there were several staff members who had served in various capacities in the aquatic program. This team set to work developing stroke and progression standards that taught both efficiency and speed. The objective was to develop effective swimming habits in participants from the beginning, thus creating stronger, safer swimmers. As participants reached advanced levels, they could also audition for the swim team and add competitive skills to basic stroke skills.
