Fergus Falls YMCA Swim School
Swim School takes a safety-first approach, focusing on small class sizes, boosting confidence in the water, building student/instructor relationships, and allowing each student to progress at their own pace. Our lessons develop aquatic readiness, engage in underwater exploration, and teach children important water safety skills.
The YMCA provides swimming lessons to swimmers of all ages and skill levels, from infants to adults! We also offer private lessons, semi-private lessons, and adaptive lessons for swimmers with special needs.
Swim Level Assessments
Don’t know what level to register for? Get a FREE level assessment.
Contact SwimSchoolFargo@ymcanorthernsky.org to schedule a time.
Swim Level Descriptions
Parent & Baby
6 - 18 mo
Babies ages 6-18 months and the parent will enjoy the class together. This class is an excellent bonding opportunity between parent and baby. This class teaches the parent how to properly hold their baby while working on floating, submerging, hand-eye coordination and muscle strengthening through games and songs.
Parent & Child
19 - 35 mo
This class teaches the parent how to work with their child on relaxed floating, gaining breath control for submerging, independent climbing out of pool and muscle strengthening. This class will also include games and songs.
Guppy
Ages 3 +
Through patience and trust, children in this level will overcome their fear and eventually swim independently. Instructors work with children at their own pace encouraging students to progress through games and fun.
Starfish
Ages 3-8
In this level, encouragement and positive reinforcement will help little swimmers become more skilled swimming independently. Floating independently on their front and back as well as kicking across the pool on their back independently is stressed in this class for water safety reasons.
Froggie
Ages 5 - 13
In this class, participants will build on their independent swimming ability by swimming further distances. Being able to transition from swimming on their front to their back with ease is one of the skills that will build this swimmers confidence. This skill is also a major water safety skill and building block toward formalized strokes in future levels.
Turtle
Ages 5 - 13
Children in this class will build on previous levels by working on swimming under water, beginning to define swim strokes and learning more water safety skills. Swimmers will learn backstroke, front crawl, elementary backstroke and be able to retrieve toys from the bottom of the pool.
Otter
Ages 5 - 14
Swimmers will gain confidence as they begin to swim further distances in backstroke, front crawl and elementary backstroke. Children will learn dolphin kick, the timing of breaststroke, and will start to learn flip turns.
Seal
Ages 5 - 13
Children in this class will increase their strength and endurance by swimming multiple lengths of front crawl and backstroke with flip turns. Your swimmer will progress by completing the butterfly and breaststroke. Endurance will be increased even more by working on being able to swim 150 yards continuously.
Shark
Ages 5 - 13
These experienced swimmers will be able to swim multiple lengths of the pool in each of the competitive strokes: front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Children in this class will also be skilled in elementary backstroke and sidestroke. Safety is emphasized in this class while students learn various forms of survival swimming which they will be able to do for ten consecutive minutes.
Adult Lessons
Ages 15+
Improve your technique, learn swim strokes, gain comfort in the pool, or overcome fear of the water! Participants swim once per week for 30 minutes at the Fercho YMCA.
Adaptive Lessons
All Ages
These one-on-one lessons are for swimmers with special needs - including autism, sensory issues, physical disabilities, and more - and are tailored towards the skills of each participant.
Private Lessons
All Ages
Need additional instruction or want individual training? Private lessons are a great way to build confidence and skills in the water in a one-on-one environment!
Available & Upcoming Sessions
Storm Closures
The Fergus Falls Aquatics Center will temporarily close anytime lightning is within 10 miles of the facility. The pool will remain closed until 30 minutes following the last lightning strike (as reported by the WeatherBug app).