The Peter Banks Gold Medal Swim School

With more than 30-years of professional coaching experience, state champions, NCAA champions, SEC champions, world champions and Olympic champions, Peter Banks is one of the world's best swimming coaches, making the Peter Banks Gold Medal Swim School the premier place for your "little fish" to learn-to-swim.

The Peter Banks Gold Medal Swim School at the Brandon Sports and Aquatics Center, is Best-in-Class in the Bay area, offering a fully comprehensive learn-to-swim program beginning with students as young as 18-months old.

All encompassing, The Peter Banks Swim School Program begins with infants/toddlers in a mom-and-tot program. Once the toddlers have mastered the orientation skills, they advance to the learn-to-swim program that is specially designed to teach water safety skills to children two-years-old and up. From here they advance to the lessons program that is designed for swimmers with basic proficiency. Finally, students finish the program by advancing to the specialized stroke school and the competitive Brandon Blue Wave Swim Team.

The Peter Banks Gold Medal Swim School at BSAC spends a significant amount of time focusing on teaching people of all ages and abilities how to swim. As an active member of the Hillsborough Water Safety Team, along with Olympians Brooke Bennett and Scott Tucker, Banks feels that it is vital to teach young children, teens and adults the life-saving skill of swimming.

More than 10,000 swimming lessons taught last year at BSAC.

All classes are taught by certified instructors under the guidance of Olympic Coach Peter Banks.

Swim Lessons Registration

Lesson Schedule: Available throughout the day.

Parent & Tot

The purpose of this class is to familiarize the child with the water and for the parent to learn new techniques that are used in the pool as well as learning helpful reminders. Activities include:

Kicking on stomach- kicking on the wall first
Kicking on back- parents hand under child's head
Scooping- child under water at an angle
Getting faces wet - crack egg overhead
Blowing bubbles - watch parent
Jumps- parent holding hands to begin

Parent Reminders:

Child needs to always be facing parent
Bring bath toy to class
Always remember to use cues such as 1...2....3
Sing and make it FUN!!!!

LEVEL 1

Students learn to float on their front and back, learn to blow bubbles, get their face wet, and generally become comfortable in the water. Students learn to be safe in the water and also learn how to enter and exit the pool properly. Students need to be able to float on their front and back, unaided, before moving onto the level 2.

LEVEL 2

From Level 1 students move to streamlining, kicking on their front and back with and without a kickboard. Students will begin to learn the fundamental arm strokes with the assistance of the teacher. Students will also be required to demonstrate the arm strokes without the teachers help. Once students have mastered the arm strokes and kicking techniques, they will have started to use their arms and will begin to swim, unsupported, across the pool. Upon demonstrating these skills, students will advance to level 3.

LEVEL 3

Students at this level will start to use the correct arm stokes for freestyle and backstroke, including the proper breathing technique for freestyle. Students will start to coordinate their arms and legs with proper breathing. Students should be able to swim at least half the length of the teaching pool. Students will also be introduced to the breaststroke kick on both their front and back. Upon completing these techniques, students will then advance to level 4.

LEVEL 4

Students at level 4 are now mastering the skills they have learned in the other levels and will work in the big pool. Students will improve their freestyle and backstroke, and should be able to swim further distances while refining their breathing skills and stroke technique for freestyle and backstroke. Students will continue to work on the breaststroke kick adding the arm strokes, while learning the proper timing of the stroke. At this level students are introduced to the butterfly kick on their front, side, and back. Upon mastering these skills, students will advance to level 5.

LEVEL 5 (Stroke School)

Level 5 is BSAC's stroke class where swimmers have progressed from the lesson phase of our program and are now ready to learn to be more proficient in all four competitive strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly). Swimmers will be instructed in more detail on butterfly and will improve their stamina on the other three strokes helping them improve their technique. This is the final level of our lesson program and the first step toward becoming a part of our championship swim team.

Swim Lessons Registration