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(Valerie Cherish voice) Well, I got it!
May. 16th, 2024 02:05 pmFour months ago I applied to be a water fitness instructor at the Everett Y, but had been beaten to the punch by a couple of other applicants. Two months later, I asked for my application to be sent to a few other locations, and almost immediately heard back from Marysville. After some conversations since then and some practice sessions teaching the class, yesterday was my official audition and another quick chat with the director, after which I accepted an offer and kicked off a background check process. I have to give props to that director, she got in the pool and took the class from me rather than just watching from the sidelines. And she's going to cover Connie's four classes that I offered to sub for leading up to my start date. That means I can start a little earlier, the target date is June 4th.
And I get to teach the earliest class in the county. Not quite as early as I wanted, which was 6:30, but at 7:15 due to lap swimming lane needs as well as lifeguard scheduling. The reason I wanted an earlier class was to promote water fitness to people who need to head to work after, and the 7:15 start time definitely helps with that.
That audition went pretty well, but was definitely tough. It was hotter than ever on deck, and now this time of year the sun streams in and bounces off the water, too. I moved my pad out of the beam before I started and it wasn't long before I was illuminated again. I figured I may as well just pretend it was a spotlight. A very friendly woman I've talked to while taking the class before was front and center and cheering me on the whole time, which was really great. I reverted to too much talking since I wanted to prove I was knowledgeable, thankfully the feedback I got was that I should mime as much as possible. I ordered a little speaker I might try out for announcements but agree silence is golden.
I do need an audible way to get attention and know that even my loudest "Hup!" might not make it across the pool. I made a necklace with a squeaky rubber duck and will see if the sound it makes carries well enough to use it as a signal. And whether people find it obnoxious.
The participants who were hanging out in the hot tub after class said across the board that they don't like to change exercises too often, which is great to hear because that makes it easier to program a class. Here's an example:
I like to come out of the warmup with Electric Avenue and I only use four moves in the whole song. Really, just three but one goes to both sides. You can also break the song down to three parts, too. During the intro and verses I jump with my feet and arms landing out to the sides, then in, followed by shuffling quickly forward and back. When we "rock down to Electric Avenue and the we'll take it higher" I have them grab an imaginary box near their feet and put it on an imaginary shelf on the opposite side. During the "out in the street" parts, they pick up an imaginary bucket between their feet and bring it straight up.
That was the coolest part of the class, by the way. A very full pool in perfect sync.
Since the boxes/shelves move goes two directions, how often should you switch? I went with four reps on each side and that was changing sides far too often. So next time I'll do the entire part of the song on one side and wait until the next instance to do the switch. I need to listen to the end again to see how to handle it but I have almost three weeks.
For a while now, I've been listening to music with water fitness in mind:
- Is this the right tempo?
- Is it appropriate? (No cussing, etc.)
- Is its appeal wide enough?
- Can I make it into an experience with movement?
I know certain people won't like certain songs and there's no point in trying to please everyone all the time. I'm a participant myself and I have to hear songs I don't care for all the time! I know for sure this one was very polarizing yesterday:
But the it elevated the exercises we did during it, and it works the other way around, too. Sometimes you have to really push during a workout and certain songs have a way of pushing you.
I of course have a lot of online training coming my way to complete, but I'm generally very good at making quick work of stuff like that.
And I get to teach the earliest class in the county. Not quite as early as I wanted, which was 6:30, but at 7:15 due to lap swimming lane needs as well as lifeguard scheduling. The reason I wanted an earlier class was to promote water fitness to people who need to head to work after, and the 7:15 start time definitely helps with that.
That audition went pretty well, but was definitely tough. It was hotter than ever on deck, and now this time of year the sun streams in and bounces off the water, too. I moved my pad out of the beam before I started and it wasn't long before I was illuminated again. I figured I may as well just pretend it was a spotlight. A very friendly woman I've talked to while taking the class before was front and center and cheering me on the whole time, which was really great. I reverted to too much talking since I wanted to prove I was knowledgeable, thankfully the feedback I got was that I should mime as much as possible. I ordered a little speaker I might try out for announcements but agree silence is golden.
I do need an audible way to get attention and know that even my loudest "Hup!" might not make it across the pool. I made a necklace with a squeaky rubber duck and will see if the sound it makes carries well enough to use it as a signal. And whether people find it obnoxious.
The participants who were hanging out in the hot tub after class said across the board that they don't like to change exercises too often, which is great to hear because that makes it easier to program a class. Here's an example:
I like to come out of the warmup with Electric Avenue and I only use four moves in the whole song. Really, just three but one goes to both sides. You can also break the song down to three parts, too. During the intro and verses I jump with my feet and arms landing out to the sides, then in, followed by shuffling quickly forward and back. When we "rock down to Electric Avenue and the we'll take it higher" I have them grab an imaginary box near their feet and put it on an imaginary shelf on the opposite side. During the "out in the street" parts, they pick up an imaginary bucket between their feet and bring it straight up.
That was the coolest part of the class, by the way. A very full pool in perfect sync.
Since the boxes/shelves move goes two directions, how often should you switch? I went with four reps on each side and that was changing sides far too often. So next time I'll do the entire part of the song on one side and wait until the next instance to do the switch. I need to listen to the end again to see how to handle it but I have almost three weeks.
For a while now, I've been listening to music with water fitness in mind:
- Is this the right tempo?
- Is it appropriate? (No cussing, etc.)
- Is its appeal wide enough?
- Can I make it into an experience with movement?
I know certain people won't like certain songs and there's no point in trying to please everyone all the time. I'm a participant myself and I have to hear songs I don't care for all the time! I know for sure this one was very polarizing yesterday:
But the it elevated the exercises we did during it, and it works the other way around, too. Sometimes you have to really push during a workout and certain songs have a way of pushing you.
I of course have a lot of online training coming my way to complete, but I'm generally very good at making quick work of stuff like that.
