Build Water Confidence: Tips from Nashville Swim Instructors

November 18, 2025

Is there anything more exciting than seeing your child light up with joy and declare, “I can do it!”? Here at Nashville Swim Academy (NSA), we live for these moments. Through expert instruction for kids of all ages, we provide the encouragement and positive reinforcement every child needs to realize their potential, become a skilled swimmer, and stay safe in and around the water.

And it all begins with confidence.

Before young swimmers learn their first strokes, they must gain sensory awareness in the water and emotional resilience during lessons. Maintaining a supportive learning environment that helps kids build self-esteem in the water lays the foundation for courage, trust, and the ability to swim with confidence.

As Nashville’s premier learn-to-swim program, NSA brings a shared passion for teaching and skills development that leads to self-assurance in the pool. For over 10 years, we’ve helped little swimmers build a lifelong love of the water, and we’re here to do the same for your child.

Putting the ‘FUN’ in Fundamentals

Confident swimmers are the product of encouragement and positive reinforcement; this is what we recommend every time a child enters the water at NSA. Well-trained professional instructors understand that every interaction nurtures a young swimmer’s potential and that kids feel more secure about their abilities when their individual needs are identified and met from the start.

With ongoing exposure to the water and consistent instruction that assures kids they can conquer each new skill, any anxieties they might be harboring on the deck are soon replaced by a can-do attitude and a sense of accomplishment in the pool.

This means beginning at the beginning. Before kids learn to swim, they need to be relaxed in the water to allow it to support them. By focusing on buoyancy, breath control, and calm movement in the water, kids gain an intuitive sense of themselves in the pool.

At NSA, our earliest lesson levels—Parent & Me for babies aged 4 to 23 months; Terrific 2s; and Beginner 3s—prioritize helping little ones feel relaxed, comfortable, and happy in the water. As they move from skill to skill , we instill a sense of self-reliance and age-appropriate independence, building trust and the desire to learn more. This is where confidence begins to take hold.

The Power of Repetition

In NSA’s swim classes in Nashville, TN, repetition is purposeful. Our youngest swimmers might practice a new skill 10 to 20 times during a single lesson, while our 5-year-olds might need to repeat a new skill five times only before they’ve got it down.

We help kids progress with patience and validation until a new skill comes naturally to them. And then we celebrate the wins!

This is why we recommend a once-a-week lessons framework. Kids get repeated exposure to the water over long periods of time in combination with elite instruction and guidance, eliminating seasonal cluster swims that take place in the summertime only and then peter out over the remaining months.

Small Classes Make a Big Difference

Just as consistency builds confidence, so do small class sizes. From Parent & Me to more advanced stroke development levels, our class ratios are intentionally limited at the early stages and gradually expand as swimmers age up and gain more skills.

The Terrific 2s have just two learners. Beginner 3s have just three. Beginner 4 to 6s have four kids, until kids are safe in the water and are ready to focus on stroke technique development, and class sizes increase to a maximum of 12.

By maintaining smaller class sizes, instructors can closely observe each child, tailoring their lessons accordingly and providing immediate feedback and support. Meanwhile, when kids progress alongside their same-aged peers, they develop valuable connections and often feel braver when trying new things.

How to Be More Confident in the Water

At NSA, we don’t shy away from hard things. Instead, we provide gentle encouragement for personalized progression. This type of adaptive teaching supports hesitant swimmers while keeping eager learners engaged.

Avoiding skills that seem tricky or intimidating works against the confidence-building we try to cultivate at NSA. An avoidant approach merely results in increased anxiety and robs kids of the confidence they’re forming. Things like catching a bubble or exploring underwater for the first time can feel scary for some children, but our instructors take a patient, step-by-step approach that honors each child’s emotional readiness. We never stop offering the opportunity to try again. And then, when the child completes the skill, we never tire of hearing those same wonderful words: “I can do it!”

Everyone in the Pool!

Confidence is a journey, especially when it comes to swimming. With expert instruction, small class sizes, adaptive teaching methods, and a nurturing environment, your child can develop their skills and enjoy a sense of accomplishment milestone by milestone.

At NSA, our swim lessons in Nashville help youngsters grow at their own pace, safely, with pride, and with joy to spare.

Ready to find the right class for your child? Explore our programs at Nashville Swim Academy and register today . Check out our handy Class Finder Tool to find the perfect slot for your child (or children). Your child’s lifelong love of the water begins here.

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From Fear to Fun: How NSA Helps Anxious Swimmers Thrive

February 17, 2026

For many children, learning to swim is more about overcoming a fear of the water than it is about learning to float or mastering safety skills. And situations like these can put parents in a very difficult position. On the one hand, we know drowning is the leading cause of death in the U.S. for children ages 1–14. You might also know that learning to swim reduces the risk of drowning by nearly 90% . But seeing the look of fear in your child’s eyes or having them dissolve into tears at the mention of swim lessons and being apart from you can make you feel unbelievably torn and guilty. However, a fear of water is the strongest predictor of low or absent swimming ability, so we need to frame the issue in a way that balances compassion and understanding with the very real, practical benefits of learning to swim. With this, the challenge comes down to finding the right swimming program for your child—one that will work with them patiently and gently, eventually replacing their fear of the water with a lifelong love of it. At Nashville Swim Academy , we’ve welcomed many children through our doors, some of whom couldn’t wait to jump in the water, some who were a bit more ambivalent, some who were anxious, and some who were absolutely afraid at first. In every instance, we acknowledged these feelings upfront. Enthusiastic kids are commended for their positive energy, but also learn that they can’t jump straight into the water without an adult’s presence and permission. For more fearful kids, we acknowledge those feelings too, empowering them with a thank-you for showing up, a welcome to our swim academy , and space to make room for whatever emotions emerge. In doing this, we quickly establish a sense of trust, where our more fearful swimmers feel safe. We also provide you, the parent, with tailored suggestions for at-home activities that can help assuage your child’s fears through games and fun bath-time routines. You can learn more about many of those activities here . As the premier learn-to-swim program in Middle Tennessee, our instructors are trained to recognize and understand each child's individual needs and to meet them where they are. We focus on providing supportive encouragement at just the right pace in our newly designed, state-of-the-art pool, which is clean, well-organized, geared toward families, and equipped with amenities that foster comfort and a sense of belonging. If you’ve been Googling “ swimming classes near me ” to find the right program for your child, welcome to NSA. Your research has brought you to our flagship location in The Nations and to a program conceptualized and designed by founding owner Krysten Call, MSA, a former collegiate swimmer, lifeguard, and coach at Vanderbilt. How an Adaptive Learning Environment Builds Confidence in Young Swimmers While fear of the water often begins after a negative experience, such as a fall into deep water or a stressful, poorly handled swimming lesson, research also shows that fear of water can have no single triggering event. In some kids, it’s simply an innate uneasiness around an environment that feels unpredictable, unfamiliar, and bigger than they. The uneasiness associated with water can grow stronger if left unaddressed. Recognizing this, researchers emphasize the importance of identifying fear early and responding with thoughtful, supportive teaching strategies. We align with this approach, acknowledging that confidence in the water develops differently for every child. Our program begins at our FUNdamentals level, where swimmers are grouped into classes by age, experience, and comfort level. For children aged 2, parents can swim with their child or choose Terrific Twos, designed for two 2-year-olds with one instructor with parents watching instead of in class with their little one. In Beginner 3s, we break skills down to best support true beginner swimmers — ranging from “My child is brand new to swim lessons” to “My child is very tense or hesitant in the water.” Swimmers who can already move through the water independently and confidently are placed in a higher level. We do the same for our swimmers aged 4-6, and those aged 7-11, so that from toddlers to older kids who feel anxious or hesitant, parents can find a lessons group that supports steady, confidence-building progress at a manageable, relaxed pace. How NSA Turns Fear Into Fun As a well-recognized swimming academy , we’ve never taken a cookie-cutter approach to our lesson program. From the moment families enroll, we practice intentional class placement, keeping the instructor-to-student ratio purposely low. We build comfort and trust in the water for our younger swimmers through playful, sensory-rich activities and support the development of balance and buoyancy at an appropriate pace for calm, safe floating. We promote coordination and gross motor skills through simple, fun propulsion activities and set the stage for a lifetime of joy and success in the water. For older children who haven’t had a positive experience with swimming and need to ease into the process slowly, we focus on foundational goals first, helping them: Develop breath control. Build confidence and comfort. Advance toward effortless floating and submerging under water. Transition between front and back horizontal body positions. Practice swim-breathe-swim patterns to build rhythm and safety skills. And while our approach is not a one-size-fits-all, the outcomes are always the same. Fearful kids become confident young swimmers who love the water and love having fun in it. They make new friends, take to other sports activities more easily, and bring their skills, confidence, and the joy of staying healthy and fit with them through their teen years and into adulthood. Find the Right Swim Class for Your Child at NSA When we create conditions that foster confidence, young swimmers’ fears become a thing of the past. And their swimming lessons turn into a source of pride, excitement, and a deep understanding that they can achieve their goals by showing up, trying, and practicing. If your child is anxious around water, you are not alone, and neither are they. With the right environment and guidance, fears dwindle, confidence grows, and learning to swim becomes a genuinely positive experience. Many parents researching “ swimming academy near me ” came to our program for our methodology and stayed for the love of the pool, the team, and the instructors who make up Nashville Swim Academy. Register today and put your child on course to developing a lifelong love of the water!