Book Private Swimming Lessons with Coach Henry

My direct experience teaching is within the 3-10 age range. Teaching children to swim is one of the top 3 most fulfilling things I’ve done in my 33 years.

My own experience was as a high-level competitor with Spare Time Aquatics Sacramento where I myself was taught by olympic-level coaches. I have the experience and knowledge to bring young swimmers success right up to the fringes of the collegiate level.

Overall, what you’ll receive from me is diligence, attention to detail, a solid skillset and love for the job.

First and foremost, focusing the mind. There's no better teacher for a coach like myself to learn patience and focus than from a child. One cannot learn to swim until they learn to float. One cannot learn to float until they learn to relax. So I always begin with the mind, techniques to simply feel comfortable and relaxed in the water without forcing these ideas of SWIMMING on them.

For adults and teens, we can usually go straight into techniques. For example, the angle of the arm when pulling down on a stroke (angled or straight?), or the posture of the head (down or up?), or the use of the legs (are they straight, are they continuous, is there white water?)

For a child new to swimming:

1) Learning to float

2) Head in the water, eyes looking DOWN at the pool floor

3) Intro to basic movement

For child experienced in swimming:

1) Free-swim warmup

2) kick-board to get legs moving correctly

3) One stroke focus per lesson (freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke, backstroke)

For Adults looking to improve technique, the program is similar, but there's a little more leeway. Adults, while learning, tend to know what they need or want for themselves. While I find it beneficial to focus on one stroke per lesson, I have also worked on multiple strokes per lesson depending on the ask.

I'll never forget Coach Ryan who introduced me to competitive swimming when I was a freshman in high school. I was a bit of an overweight kid. I wasn't the fastest or the strongest. And I was a late bloomer compared to many of my teammates. But he showed me acceptance and patience, and so I took to competitive swimming thanks to him.

Coach Junior was the one that pushed me to my limits. He was very tough man from Brazil. I'll never forget the first time he made me do butterfly for an hour straight. The kind of shape he whipped me into, the thresholds he pushed my mind through is the reason I'm an athlete today. It's thanks to him that I can continue to push myself physically.

Lastly, an important boxing coach I had, Freddie Norwood. In my early twenties he pushed me to the newest levels of my powers, carrying on the work of my previous coaches, finalizing the strength of a young adult.

Usually our athletic journeys are defined by only a few coaches, sometimes only one! But the story here is that it's a journey, that growth of the body and the mind requires different perspectives, mindsets. Sometimes nurturing, sometimes hard-nosed.

I'm a good example of why it's not a bad thing to be a late bloomer. In high school I struggled with my weight and didn't finish growing into myself until around the age of 20! At 33 I'm the strongest I've ever been and am continuing to peek thanks to my ability (taught by coaches) to push myself physically and remain mindful of technique. To this day, I am only getting faster and stronger. In a way, I too am still on a journey of growth.