YMCA Offers Lessons for All Nonswimmers

Basic water survival for nonswimmers will be the focus of “Swim Week,” a five-day program at the Verdugo Hills Family YMCA beginning Monday.

“It’s a week of swimming lessons geared for nonswimmers from 6 months old all the way up to adults,” said Patty Dirlam, YMCA aquatics director.

For $7, program participants will receive a half-an-hour lesson each day, Monday through Friday. The YMCA offers the lessons, Dirlam said, in an effort to prevent accidental drownings during the upcoming summer swim months.

“Kids who don’t know how to swim are at real risk,” Dirlam said. “Once they go through this program, they may not be experts, but they get over their fear of the water and they’re really ready to learn.”

The YMCA also offers more advanced swim lessons as well as two water aerobic classes and a pool exercise program for arthritis sufferers, Dirlam said. The next sessions for those classes are scheduled to begin March 31.

For more information, call the Verdugo Hills YMCA at (818) 352-3255.