Sears I Can Swim is a program dedicated to teaching children to swim well in a fun, challenging and rewarding atmosphere. Swimming / Natation Canada has developed a program that teaches children the basics of the four swimming strokes: front crawl, backstroke, breast stroke and butterfly. As well, participants are introduced to swimming starts, turns and components of other aquatic sports such as triathlon, synchronized swimming, competitive swimming and water polo. The Sears I Can Swim program is a great feeder program for the Lifesaving Society's Canadian Swim Patrol program.

The Sears I Can Swim awards program is fun, motivational and allows participants to track their progress throughout their swimming lessons.

Sears I Can Swim is responsive, dynamic, flexible, and FUN!

Responsive: Our program was designed through the careful examination of the needs of parents. Based on extensive surveys, we determined that parents across Canada wanted

• More time spent swimming
• More stroke improvement
• Noticeable progress
• Engages children with a love of swimming
• Builds self-esteem and confidence
• With positive, confident adult role models

Dynamic: Sears I Can Swim is an innovative learn-to-swim program developed and taught by expert instructors and coaches.

Flexible: Unlike other programs, Sears I Can Swim focuses on each swimmer’s unique needs and abilities. We recognize that children learn different skills at different rates. So rather than breaking skills into narrow bands and using a pass/fail approach, Sears I Can Swim groups competencies into four main Learning Stages that let children learn individual skills at their own pace.

Where more rigid formats can lead to swimmers becoming discouraged or bored, our flexible, learner-centred approach means children are continuously motivated to improve their own individual performance.

Fun! The primary goal of Sears I Can Swim is to develop excellent swimming skills and a true love of aquatic activities. Children who are challenged, have fun and enjoy success in the water are more likely to become life-long swimmers. And that’s good for both individual swimmers and recreation facility operators alike. Our mission is to promote positive, active, healthy lifestyles through programs that encourages participation, fun & success! Sears I Can Swim does not use a pass or fail system, rather a complete or incomplete system with continual reward and recognition.

Designed by top Canadian swimming and coaching experts, Sears I Can Swim teaches children how to swim better, faster. And it allows facility operators to improve the quality and efficiency of their swim programs, while generating increased public participation and pool revenues.

Sears I Can Swim focuses on swimming progression and stroke refinement rewarding individual accomplishment rather than using a traditional pass / fail approach. Swimmers are introduced to new methods and philosophies that build confidence, skill development, improvement and refinement.

Fifty-four key swimming skills are taught in the first three stages. Children progress at their own pace, learning continuously and are encouraged through positive feedback and rewards. Upon completion of Stage 3 swimmers are able to choose from five new aquatic experiences. From modules such as “I Can Swim FAST”, which provides speed swimming skill refinement, to ball handling skills in the “ I Can Water Polo”, Stage 4 Sport Modules enable participants to expand their aquatic knowledge.

Use the Sears I Can Swim Placement Guidelines to place your child into the appropriate stage. Teachers will also be on the deck to assist you in determining the best class for your child. If your child has taken classes with another learn-to-swim program, you may be able to determine their level using our lesson conversion PDF.

We have prepared a handy lesson conversion PDF document to assist parents in finding the Sears I Can Swim equivalent to the place where you child left off in another program.

Our ‘H20 Active’ program incorporates safety messages and skills taught in the water through fun, innovative activities. H20 Active will make a lasting impact on how swimmers learn water safety through activities which mimic realistic situations in the water.

H20 Active skills and messages will be taught through activities that will equip swimmers with the knowledge and skill ability to be pro-active in realistic situations and create awareness of potential dangers associated in and around the water. Water sport safety is a new topic which teaches swimmers how to have fun and be safe when playing a variety of sports. Swimmers will take safety messages and skills away having learned them in a fun, positive, controlled environment.

We have collected all our PDFs on one page. Just visit our documents page for all the latest documentation regarding Sears I Can Swim.