Safety, Confidence, and Lifelong Skills
At Decatur Family YMCA, we believe everyone should feel safe and confident around water. That’s why we offer comprehensive swim lessons for all ages and skill levels—from babies to adults. Whether you're just getting started or looking to improve your technique, our certified instructors are here to guide you every step of the way.
Our swim curriculum focuses on water safety, confidence, and skill development. Each class maintains a low swimmer-to-instructor ratio to ensure personalized attention and a supportive learning environment.
2025 Session Dates
Important Reminders
- Registration closes the Saturday before the session begins. Late registration is not accepted.
- All swim participants must scan in with a key tag upon entry. Non-members will be charged a $5 key tag fee, refundable when the tag is returned at the end of the session.
Make a splash safely—build confidence in and around the water.
For more information on swim lessons, or to determine the appropriate level to register for, please contact Alliscia Koehler at alliscia.koehler@decaturymca.org or call 217-872-9622 ext. 124
Level Descriptions
Parents accompany children in stage A, which introduces infants and toddlers to the aquatic environment through exploration and encourages them to enjoy themselves while learning about the water.
Parents work with their children to explore body positions, floating, blowing bubbles, and fundamental safety and aquatic skills.
Students develop comfort with underwater exploration and learn to safely exit in the event of falling into a body of water. This stage lays the foundation that allows for a student's future progress in swimming. Students will focus on: exploring the aquatic environment with instructor help, developing basic skills to propel and glide with instructor help, learning basic aquatic safety, and accepting some responsibility for safe practices.
Students focus on body position and control, directional change and forward movement in the water while continuing to practice how to safely exit in the event of falling into a body of water. Students will focus on: exploring the aquatic environment without instructor help, developing basic skills to propel and glide through the water without instructor help, learning basic aquatic and boating safety and accepting some responsibility for safe practice.
Students learn how to swim to safety from a longer distance than in previous stages in the event of falling into a body of water. This level also introduces rhythmic breathing and integrated arm and leg action. Students will focus on: integrated arm and leg action, rhythmic breathing in back and front glides, developing forward movement on the front and back, practicing skills and safety techniques in deep water.
Students develop stroke technique in front crawl and back crawl and learn the breaststroke kick and butterfly kick. Water safety is reinforced through treading water and elementary backstroke. Students will focus on: developing the front crawl and back crawl, introducing components of the breaststroke and butterfly, and practicing safety techniques in deep water.
Students in this level work on stroke technique and learn all major competitive strokes. The emphasis on water safety continues through treading water and sidestroke. Students will focus on: developing stamina in the front crawl and back crawl, developing the breaststroke and butterfly, and building endurance techniques for deep water safety.
Students refine stroke technique on all major competitive strokes, learn about competitive swimming, and discover how to incorporate swimming into a healthy lifestyle. Students in this level focus on the following: developing endurance in the competitive strokes, developing skills related to competitive swimming like flip turns and enhancing skills, and building endurance in deep water.