Lessons

Moms & Tots
When feasible and subject to demand we are open to running moms n tots sessions. Our coaches have experience of holding classes with tots as young as 2-3 months.

Our Learn to Swim programme
Our lessons programme comprises of 6 levels and what we call a transition to club squad. To join, contact us for an assessment. We will determine the level of skill and recommend the correct group to place the swimmer into. Once a swimmer gets through all that they need to be able to progress to something more than just lessons we move them to the transition squad. Here there will start to learn a lot more about swimming in a club, more than 1 lesson a week, improving endurance and stamina - learning to swim non-stop for 30-60mins, increasing stroke rate and the like.

Cluster Clubs
We work very closely with Active West Lothian to deliver lessons to groups of disadvantaged children drawn from the local community primary schools. We are the only club in West Lothian offering this service.

Taster Sessions and Holiday Club
During school holidays Active West Lothian put on holiday clubs and taster sessions to keep children occupied and hopefully off the streets and out of trouble. We regularly run the swimming and land sessions at these functions.

Disability lessons
Both our Head Coach and Lead Teacher are qualified to teach and coach disabled persons. They have a very good understanding of what is needed and how to deal with children with a wide range of disabilities. We also work with special needs schools to offer block bookings of swimming lessons for these children.

Adult lessons
How often do grandparents want to take their grandchildren away on holiday to a place that has a pool? - can that grandparent swim considering the levels of lifeguarding at such facilities is very often almost non-existent? We can tailor a programme for anyone regardless of age to get you from dipping a toe to a fully fledged capable swimmer. It's never too late to learn how to swim!

Mainstream

4 main squads
We operate 4 main squads, Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald and our top squad Diamond with a gradual increase in tempo, number of hours involved, increased land sessions and other benefits attached as a swimmer progresses through these. We do not maintain a "tick sheet" approach to the specific differences between squads and the requirements to be placed in a squad. This leaves the decision entirely with the coaches as to whether a swimmer placement in a squad is justified or not and removes the often false perceptions from parents as to whether their child should be in one squad or another.

Sub framework within squads for National Potential
Within the top 2 squads the coaches will identify a number of swimmers who qualify for some additional coaching/training. Entry into and out of this additional group is tightly controlled by the coaches and is determined on attitude, effort and attendance at every training session that their usual squad should be attending. It is aimed at benefitting swimmers close to or already swimming at national level and also to encourage those swimmers not there yet as an incentive to push harder. Swimmers can easily be removed from the additional activities and replaced by another should their standards slip.

Land Sessions
We run weekly land based activities with all squads to not only change things up a bit and add a bit of fun but to teach the swimmers other stretching and exercise routines all aimed at building strength as well as focussing on some of the softer team building skills.

Land training/gym with qualified Personal Trainer
All swimmers in the top squad are encouraged to make use of the gym facilities that we have access to. As part of these sessions our Head Coach, Fiona who is studying to be a personal trainer will put the swimmers through their paces in a carefully controlled land based gym session. This is carefully structured to take into consideration age, size and pure physical abilities and not overstress young bodies. Fiona is overseen and guided by a qualified PT.

Yoga sessions included
Additionally to the land based gym sessions we also offer the swimmers a weekly yoga session run by a qualified and highly experienced yoga instructor.

Other

Masters Group
We have a fully capable and active masters squad who regularly compete at district, national and British masters events and on a number of occasions have taken the top awards for the age groups they are participating in.

All disabilities catered for
Over and above the disabilities schools lessons programme we run, we have a number of swimmers with disabilities in the club. We encourage all these swimmers to participate within their respective mainstream squads, however we have been working with Scottish Disability Sport to set up a dedicated disability squad with their own dedicated pool time and coach. This kicks off in July 2021. Our Head Coach, Fiona, also assists at the Scottish East District Regional squad training.

Open Water Swimming
Both Fiona and Rachel have fairly extensive open water swimming experience (including international competitions) and every summer will host open water training sessions for those club swimmers who are interested. It is a completely different discipline and is not for all but can be a very rewarding experience.

Swimming for tri-athletes
Tri-athletes mostly will use an open water swimming technique given their swimming leg of their event is more likely to be in open water. There are a couple of slightly different rules to normal open water swimming but essentially any tri-athlete wishing to benefit from open water training is welcome to contact the coaches.

Injury Prevention KCR treatment
Rachel, our Lead Teacher, is qualified as a Kinetic Chain Release practitioner. KCR is a physiotherapy protocol which is aimed at "bringing the body back into balance". It is not necessarily a treatment programme to treat injuries but should be used to prevent injuries occuring in the first place. All swimmers registered in the club are eligible for treatment as part of our programme and for a small fee all parents of registered swimmers can also ask for a treatment session. Normal rates for persons outside this group will apply.