LifeCycle Swim School
  • Locations
  • services
    • PRIVATE LESSONS
    • Lessons / Our Pools
    • Backyard Lessons >
      • Home pool safety Assessment
    • Lifeguard Services
    • POOL PARTY PLANNING
    • Caregiver and Baby
    • Swim Lessons for disabled students
    • Swim Surge® Crash Course
    • adult lessons
    • Fear of Water Program >
      • aqua phobia facts
    • SwimFix
    • Water Safety Workshop
    • gift certificates
    • Online Courses
    • SHOP
  • fees
    • Outdoor Pool-Montclair
    • Home/Private Pool
    • Lifeguard Services
    • Indoor Pool-Clifton
    • Policies Overview
  • Register
    • Indoor Pool-Clifton
    • Outdoor Pool-Montclair
    • Swim Surge® Crash Course
    • Home Pool Lessons
    • waivers
    • recommendations for effective swim lessons
    • gift certificates
  • Teachers
  • about
    • Our Philosophy
    • Youth Progressive Curriculum
    • Safer Sooner Method >
      • SAFETY CYCLE
      • BASIC WATER COMPETENCY
    • small class sizes
    • Pay as You Swim
    • gift certificates
    • FAQ
    • Newsletter Subscription
    • Blog
    • Aquatic Partnerships
  • 908-827-1669
    • contact
  • We're Hiring
  • Locations
  • services
    • PRIVATE LESSONS
    • Lessons / Our Pools
    • Backyard Lessons >
      • Home pool safety Assessment
    • Lifeguard Services
    • POOL PARTY PLANNING
    • Caregiver and Baby
    • Swim Lessons for disabled students
    • Swim Surge® Crash Course
    • adult lessons
    • Fear of Water Program >
      • aqua phobia facts
    • SwimFix
    • Water Safety Workshop
    • gift certificates
    • Online Courses
    • SHOP
  • fees
    • Outdoor Pool-Montclair
    • Home/Private Pool
    • Lifeguard Services
    • Indoor Pool-Clifton
    • Policies Overview
  • Register
    • Indoor Pool-Clifton
    • Outdoor Pool-Montclair
    • Swim Surge® Crash Course
    • Home Pool Lessons
    • waivers
    • recommendations for effective swim lessons
    • gift certificates
  • Teachers
  • about
    • Our Philosophy
    • Youth Progressive Curriculum
    • Safer Sooner Method >
      • SAFETY CYCLE
      • BASIC WATER COMPETENCY
    • small class sizes
    • Pay as You Swim
    • gift certificates
    • FAQ
    • Newsletter Subscription
    • Blog
    • Aquatic Partnerships
  • 908-827-1669
    • contact
  • We're Hiring

Be safe. Have fun. Stay fit.

Montclair, NJ

May is National Water Safety Month!

5/1/2023

 
LifeCycle Swim School is proud to offer enhanced water safety services and swim lessons to the community to help keep everyone safe in, on and around water this summer. Read our press release for more details.
​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 
Media Contact:
Jennifer May
LifeCycle Swim School, Montclair, NJ
201-320-0696 / jen@lifecycleswimming.com
www.lifecycleswimming.com
 
 
 
LifeCycle Swim School Offers Robust Drowning Prevention Services for Summer
 
Safety-Focused LifeCycle Swim School Promotes National Water Safety Month
 
Montclair, NJ, May 1, 2023 - May is National Water Safety Month, and LifeCycle Swim School of Montclair, NJ is joining in the effort to raise awareness about the importance of water safety. As the weather warms up and people start to spend more time in and around the water it’s crucial to understand how to stay safe.
 
LifeCycle Swim School provides families in and around Montclair with high-quality water safety education and swim lessons. We’re making extra efforts this summer because, due to the pandemic, we’ve seen that many children are behind on their swimming skills.
 
“We’re committed to ensuring that everyone in our community understands the importance of water safety,“ said Jennifer May, Owner of LifeCycle Swim School.  “By providing education, swim lessons and resources, we hope to prevent drownings and other water-related accidents.”
 
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1-4, and the number two cause of death for children ages 5-14. However, drowning can happen to anyone, regardless of age or swimming ability. No one is “water safe.”
 
To promote water safety, we’re offering a variety of services and events:
  • Expanded availability of swim lessons for all ages and levels, including adults.
  • Home Pool Safety Inspections to help homeowners improve the safety of their pools.
  • A Summer Water Safety Toolkit is available on our website, including free downloadable resources such as Water Watcher tags and summer vacation safety tips.
  • A robust water safety social media campaign throughout the summer.
 
In addition to these offerings, we’re partnering with local businesses to provide two water safety workshops. For families with new children, we’re offering an infant-focused workshop at Montclair Baby on June 3 at 1:00 pm. For families with older toddlers, we’re conducting a workshop at Kidville of Montclair on June 3 at 10:00 am.
 
We’re reminding residents to take steps to stay safe in, on, and around water this summer:

  • Never leave children unattended near or in water, even if they’re wearing a life jacket, and even if they “know how to swim.” Caregivers, not lifeguards, are a child’s first line of defense to prevent accidents.
  • Stay arm’s distance from inexperienced swimmers, even if they’re wearing a life jacket.
  • Avoid even minor distractions like chatting or cell phones when watching swimmers. It takes less than 30 seconds for a child to drown.
  • Learn rescue breath CPR and basic first aid.
  • Check the weather and water conditions before swimming or boating.
  • Obey all signs and warnings at beaches, lakes, and other bodies of water.
  • Enroll children in yearly swim lessons, at least through age fourteen.
 
National Water Safety Month is an annual awareness campaign coordinated by the Pool and Hot Tub Alliance, the American Red Cross, the National Recreation and Park Association and the World Waterpark Association. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the importance of water safety and provide education and resources to prevent fatal drownings and other water-related accidents that can lead to permanent damage.
 
About LifeCycle Swim School
LifeCycle Swim School provides premium water safety education, survival swimming and swim skill instruction to Montclair and surrounding communities.
 
 
Contact:
Jennifer May, Owner, LifeCycle Swim School
Montclair, NJ
201-320-0696
jen@lifecycleswimming.com
lifecycle_swimschool_water_safety_month.pdf
File Size: 91 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Be Water Safe During Spring Break

3/14/2023

 
Picture

​As families prepare for spring break adventures, LifeCycle Swim School wants parents and caregivers to have all the knowledge they need to ensure a water-safe vacation. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children between ages 1-4, and the second leading cause of death between ages 5-14. Being in an unfamiliar environment - such as a hotel, AirBnB, water park or beach could contribute to unsafe circumstances and lax protocols.

​Drowning is silent. 
Someone struggling in the water may not yell for help, wave their arms, or thrash around. It’s critical to always provide constant, vigilant supervision when children are around any type of water environment.
The CDC lists the following factors that can make drowning more likely, and these factors are likely heightened during vacations and when an environment is new or not visited often.
  • Inability to swim.
  • Missing or ineffective fences around water.
  • Lack of close supervision.
  • Not wearing life jackets.

Tips to Help Keep Your Family Water Safe During Vacation

  • Familiarize yourself with the pool, beach, or any water features in the area where you're staying - including bathtubs. Understand what safety measures are in place such as lifeguard hours, gates, fences, rescue equipment, or the lack of these safety measures.
  • Constant, vigilant caregiver supervision around water is essential.
  • If your destination has lifeguards, schedule swimming during lifeguard hours. That said, Lifeguards are not babysitters. Caregivers must engage in constant, vigilant supervision.
  • Designate a Water Watcher, an adult in your group who keeps a close eye on swimmers. Rotate the Water Watcher every 30 minutes to avoid supervision fatigue.
  • Review the water rules with your family, and avoid letting these rules fall by the wayside as you relax. The number one rule: require that any child under your care ask permission before getting near the edge of any water.
  • When boating, everyone should wear a U.S. Coast Guard Certified life jacket. A properly fitting life jacket fits snug, and stays under a child’s chin when they lift their arms overhead. Click here to watch a quick video on how to fit a lifejacket.
  • Implement a buddy system. Nobody should swim alone - including adults - and no one is drown proof, even if they are a proficient swimmer or wearing a life jacket. Buddys can seek help if something is wrong.
  • Prepare for vacations by enrolling in formal swim lessons. The CDC notes that swim lessons reduce drowning by 88%, making year-round swim lessons a great way to help a child be safe around the water.
Picture

My Journey to Owning a Swim School

2/16/2017

 
My first career was creative, challenging and included travel around the world. As a product director in the footwear business, I led teams to design and develop shoes for women and men, but mostly for kids. Young and single, I’d jet off to Paris and London in search of “inspirational” shoes to copy for the American market. This was my job! Back in our Boston office, and working with teams of designers, we’d transform the ideas into styles for our brand. Then we’d send the artwork to factories in Thailand or China, and I’d get to travel there too.
Every time someone asked, “What do you do?” my answer always solicited varying degrees of “How cool!” At parties everyone loves talking about shoes. Passions run high when people describe the type of shoes they love, the heels they hate, and that unicorn style they can never find. As a creative person, and someone who cares about the environment, I always felt lucky that I designed in a product category that people actually needed.
The work was fun, financially rewarding, and had room for promotion. I leveraged my advertising degree, and gained business strategy experience. The company I worked for was even progressive for working women and families – they had female executives, and on-site day care for those who needed it. But even in this best-case scenario, the complications of a working mom’s reality crept in. Once I had a child, my male boss at the time assumed I wouldn’t want to travel, and told me so. Even though I was the main earner in our family, and I wanted to stay, we parted ways. I held a few similar jobs over the next ten years. In hindsight, I can see that this was an extended, stalled career. Eventually I led product development in the baby division of an accessories company, creating a line of crib shoes. Those tiny, three-inch foot coverings that babies don’t actually need. Crib shoes are fun and cute. They’re also unnecessary, and essentially landfill fodder.
Meanwhile my personal life got complicated. I’d had unexpected twins, so was parenting, luckily with an engaged husband, three kids instead of the two we had planned. The job turned into a grind. Buried writing aspirations haunted me, and I pined to be my own boss. The twins were morphing from exhausting toddlers into demanding kids. Frazzled, we decided to abandon our urban lifestyle. We sold our brownstone, and moved to a New Jersey suburb, hoping a quiet, grassy home would calm life down.
Balancing career and family remained complicated, maybe even more so by being in a new town, with longer commutes. Our first summer, we were excited to join the town pool. To me, pools weren’t just loaded with water, they were filled with memories. As a kid, in Houston, Texas, I’d spend whole summer days at our neighborhood pool. To survive the heat and humidity I’d play endless rounds of Marco Polo, launch cannon balls off the high dive, and attempt to eat orange Creamsicles before they melted.
My sisters and I raced in swim meets. We started in the five and under age group, and every summer earned shiny ribbons that we pinned to our bedroom bulletin boards. I was good at racing, and joined a year-round team. At thirteen I qualified for a statewide meet in the 200-meter breaststroke. But as the sport got more demanding, and my height stuck at 5’ 3, I gave in to teenage laziness. I quit, and swimming became something “I used to do.”
Confronted with that concrete rectangle filled with water, I started swimming laps to relieve stress. Away from people, my phone, and as the water drowns out the sounds of children and even my own mind, I drift into something like meditation. My worries sink into the deep end, and although they don’t go away, they resurface bathed in perspective. Meanwhile the water soothed tantrums, cooled down tempers and transported us to a place of pure fun with our kids. Then I’m ready to enjoy the social experience of a community pool — chatting with neighbors and meeting new people.
Swimming helped me cope, but it wasn’t enough. In 2014, with the support of my husband, I left my job. It was hard to leave a well-paying job, and risk stunting further a 30-year career that I had at one time loved.
I wasn’t exactly modeling good habits for my kids when I was still in my pajamas as they got home from school. I needed a routine to get me out of the house, so I started teaching swimming at our local YMCA. I enjoyed resurrecting a lost skill, and it kept me fit. I decided to get certified so I could be a better instructor. My students progressed, and I became one of the most requested teachers. Meanwhile, because of my business background I was able to see the inadequacies of where I was working, and also that the community was underserved.
The next summer I launched LifeCycle Swimming. I rented an outdoor pool, created a website where clients could book lessons on-line. For four summers I’ve taught lessons back-to-back. Now I’m managing the growth of a thriving swim business.
All I need now is a Creamsicle.

    Jennifer May

    Swim ambassador of Montclair, NJ.

    Archives

    May 2023
    March 2023
    February 2017

    Categories

    All
    Safety
    Spring Break
    Vacation

    RSS Feed

Lifecycle swimming    908-827-1669

Premium swim instruction dedicated to accelerated progress


Info

About
Locations
​Teachers
​
Youth Curriculum
Safer Sooner™
FAQ
Fees
​
Policies

services

All Services
​
Private Lessons
​
Adult Lessons
Home Pool Instruction
Lifeguard Services
Fear of Water Program
Shop

register

Book a Lesson / Our Pool
Book a Lesson / Your Pool

908-827-1669

Email
Blog
* indicates required


Copyright 2016-2019 Lifecycle Aquatics, LLC.  All rights reserved.
Content on this site is for informational or educational use, and should not be construed as medical or insurance advice.  Lifecycle Aquatics, LLC provides general information about swimming and water safety.