The last session of Waterworks On Wheels swim lessons will be offered starting next week:

Monday/Wednesday lessons at Fitness Works Chandler (Queen Creek & Gilbert Rds) from November 9th – December 2nd

Tuesday/Thursday lessons at Fitness Works Gilbert (Higley & Baseline Rds) from November 5th – December 3rd

If you would still like to reserve a spot in one of these classes, please contact our office immediately at (480) 461-3888. It has been a fantastic year and we can’t say “Thank You” enough to our Waterworks On Wheels clients. New classes will resume in February 2010.

We’ve been working SO hard the last few months to get our new office space ready for habitation — and we’ve finally moved in! We are so excited to have a big, fresh space in which we can really start growing our business. Not to worry though, Waterworks On Wheels and FitnessFest will continue to bring you the same level of personal customer service and quality business!

A BIG thanks goes to Janice’s husband Perry for his dedication to the office project. THANK YOU PERRY!

According to Safe Kids USA, more than 4.5 million children are injured at home every year. The good news is there are some proactive steps you can take, in addition to constant supervision, to help minimize the chances of your child being injured at home:

• Make sure your floors do not have any small objects on them that can cause a choking hazard, such as buttons, coins or small pieces from a toy.
• Store all medications and household cleaners our of sight and reach.
• Ensure your water heater is set at 120 degrees or lower.
• Install a fence around your pool, and never leave your child unattended around the pool or bathtub. Never leave a bucket of water unattended.
• Keep furniture away from windows. A child can be strangled by a cord or fall from a window.
• Secure heavy furniture to the wall with brackets and anchors.

By taking some of these steps, you can help decrease the chances of your child being injured at home. However, the best way to protect your child is constant supervision.

by Deanna Grey, R.N., the director of the Lund Family Pediatric and Adolescent Unit at Mercy Gilbert Medical Center

After-school activities are a big part of the school year — and swim lessons are no exception. You’d be suprised at the extra benefits that come with having a routine group lesson with other children at the same age and skill level. While any after-school activity is sure to enhance your child’s development, we think swim lessons are the way to go (although we may be just a little biased!).

The Waterworks weekday program only takes an hour of your time each week (1/2 hour one day, 1/2 hour another day), and the cost averages out to less than $10 per lesson. Compare that to some sports and you’ll be smiling all the way to the bank! Not to mention, our class sizes generally have a 4:1 ratio, which means that our instructors get to know your child and spend quite a lot of time focusing on his/her individual experience in the lesson. You can’t beat that — and you also can’t forget that swimming is an activity that many students carry on into adulthood, largely because it’s a fantastic form of exercise that is conducted in a stress-free setting — the water!

Read more about the benefits of after-school activities for your children here and here, and make sure to contact us when you’re ready to get started with Waterworks On Wheels. We’d love to be a part of your school year!

I have been spending a lot of time at the Chandler Fitness Works during our Monday and Wednesday classes. It has been fun seeing how the kids have grown and improved. Many of these kids I taught to swim when they were very young…and now here they are swimming freestyle and backstroke all the way across the pool! Ria, Shivan, Aaron, Selina and Nicholas — WOW! These are just a few of the kids who have come so far and been with Waterworks for years. Thank you (and parents!) for your continued support of the program and your diligence for staying in lessons. Knowing how important the safety aspect is, but also realizing that swimming is a great sport and good exercise, makes all the difference!

The next weekday sessions begin September 2nd and 3rd (depending on whether you register for Fitness Works Gilbert – Tuesday/Thursday classes or Fitness Works Chandler – Monday/Wednesday classes). Call us at (480) 461-3888 or register online at www.waterworksonwheels.com.

PLUS – Nine months in the works, our swim lesson video clip is finally up and running on our website. Check it out — you may be in the clip! www.waterworksonwheels.com

I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon at Fitness Works Chandler yesterday to see how our Waterworks On Wheels lessons were going for the month of July. It was great! I was glad to meet some of our new clients, as well as see some parents that have been with us session after session. It was also the first time I’ve seen THREE instructors teaching classes at the same time – WOW!

We realize that many of our summer swimmers start school next month, along with activities like soccer, baseball, dance and others…but don’t forget that keeping up on what’s been learned in swim lessons is still important! If you are not able to continue swim lessons with us during the Fall, please try to spend some time at the pool (or even in the bathtub!) practicing swim skills and water safety. We offer swim lessons almost year-round, so give us a call when you’d like to get back into the swing of things. Have a great school year!

-Gretchen

“School is out for the summer, grandkids are in town and the scorching weather often means play time at the pool.
But complacency, a lack of preparation and failure to watch kids around water can lead to a tragedy. ”A drowning is preventable,” said Holli Sandeen, community relations specialist for the Sun City West Fire District. “(People) think it could never happen to (their) family but each year more than 800 children drown.”

Sandeen said last year in Arizona alone there were 153 water-related incidents and 49 deaths, including 16 children.So far in 2009, she said, there have been 80 water-related incidents reported and seven deaths for children.

“Supervision is the key word when it comes to pool safety but supervision combined with a variety of barriers and safety devices — fences, latched gates, locked doors, pool covers and more — goes even further toward drowning prevention,” she said.

Sun City Fire Marshal Ken Rice said the simplest tip is also the most important.

“Never leave children out of your sight,” Rice said. “They should always be within arm’s reach.”

Rice said an unfortunate truth about drownings is that many can be prevented just by being a little more attentive.

“Drowning is silent,” Rice said. “In Hollywood, drownings they show a lot of splashing and yelling but this is untrue. Most children just end up at the bottom of the pool. This is why you see so many cases of a group of people at a party and none of them witness the drowning.”

The following are tips provided by the Sun City Fire Department and the Sun City West Fire District to keep children safe around water:

• Never leave a child unattended in water for any reason. Don’t be distracted by doorbells, phone calls, chores or conversations. If you must leave the pool area, take the child with you, making sure the pool gate latches securely when it closes.

• Always be within an arm’s reach of a child younger than 5 who is in or around water.

• Always watch children when they are in water. Designate a child watcher to prevent gaps in supervision when children are visiting.

• Children older than three should receive swimming lessons but children should not be considered “drown proof” because they have been enrolled in swimming lessons.

• Don’t rely on “floaties” or other inflatable toys to protect children in water.

• Keep rescue equipment such as hooks, poles or life preservers and a phone by the pool.

• Keep all doors and windows leading to a pool secure, including pet doors.

• If a child is missing, check the pool first. Go to the edge of the pool and scan the entire pool, bottom and surface, as well as the surrounding pool area.

• Place tables, chairs, toys and storage chests away from the pool fences to prevent children from climbing in the pool area.

• Instruct baby sitters or caregivers about the dangers water may pose and make sure they are constantly supervising children around water.

For information about pool safety, or to sign up for a CPR class, call the Sun City Fire Department at 623-974-2321 or the Sun City West Fire District at 623-584-3500.”

To view this entire article click here: http://www.yourwestvalley.com/news/children-6831-water-safety.html

Enjoy a week off of swim lessons (indoor).  June 29th through July 2nd there will be no swim lessons at our health club locations. However, backyard lessons are still in session that week. Saturday July 4th all our clubs have off, as well.

Have a safe and fun 4th of July weekend and remember to watch your children around water at all times…including those pool parties!

My mother-in-law recently sent me an article from the New York Times, dated April 7, 2009. The title is “Early Swim Lessons May Reduce Drowning”.  Please take a moment to read it and notice the last paragraph which states “swim lessons alone will not prevent drowning”. Waterworks On Wheels’ philosophy has been exactly that from day one and we preach the same in our daily lessons. There is no substitute for constant supervision; Waterworks is not a survival program it is an avenue which gives our children tools to work with and learn from. Let us give our young children the knowledge and skills necessary to help them enjoy, have fun, and be safe in our Arizona pools.

 Coincidentally, just last week a new client of mine with a five year old that had never taken lessons and was afraid to put his head in the water called me about his first set of lessons. She said “The pediatricians said not to give kids swim lessons until they are five”. Well, that got me all fired up again, and in a timely fashion this article was sent to me. Thank you Jeanne!! 

 As mentioned herein, Waterworks believes it is crucial to provide our children with the skills necessary to react in a perhaps life threatening water related situation and to also understand the basis of the said article; ’swim lessons alone will not prevent drowning’, constant supervision is 100% necessary.   

 Thank you for allowing us to teach your kids about water safety!

 Click this link to read the article:

 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/health/07chil.html

Swim lessons are well under way and continuing with great success. Its never too late to sign your children up for the upcoming sessions. We offer lessons year round.

Our backyard lessons are a convenient and affordable way to get one-on-one lessons and/or group lessons. At times its a good idea to do one-on-one lessons first in order to get ‘jump started’. Give us a call and we will be more than willing to figure out what is best for your child or children.

There are so many pools and lakes in Arizona, we want to be sure that all our kids understand water safety and know how to swim. Whether you are in Mesa, Gilbert, Glendale, or Chandler, we have you covered. Feel free to contact us at any time for more information.

www.waterworksonwheels.com

480-461-3888