ASA Awards
Safety and Survival
Children's safety in the water is a major concern for parents and guardians, and the ASA's Safety and Survival Awards are designed to offer a little peace of mind. Covering survival knowledge, awareness of dangers and vital life-saving information, this range of four awards is a must for any parent to consider for their child.
The Preliminary Safety Skills Award offers your children an introduction to water safety and is targeted at swimmers who no longer use buoyancy aids. The Personal Survival Awards are in two levels and complement Stages 8-10 of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework.
They ensure learners know how to react if they find themselves in difficulty by testing them in real-life situations. Finally, a natural follow-on from the Personal Survival Awards, the Water Rescue Award teaches your children basic lifesaving techniques.
Competitive Start Awards
The ASA's emphasis on learner safety continues with the Preliminary Competitive Start Award, complementing Stages 1-7 of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework and the Competitive Start Award for Stages 8-10.
Shallow diving can cause serious injuries if not done properly and by securing these awards your children will show they have the competence to dive in water 0.9-1.3m deep. This is a standard demanded for competitions under ASA law.
Teaching for the Preliminary Competitive Start Award starts in deep water before moving to the side of the pool and shallower water. Once this award has been secured learners work towards the Competitive Start Award to learn safe race dives from a starter block.
National Curriculum Awards
The ASA has worked closely with schools to improve swimming lessons. Swimming is a compulsory part of the National Curriculum and the ASA has developed National Curriculum Water Skills and Water Safety Awards to complement this.
Developed to run alongside the ASA Learn to Swim Framework, the Water Skills Award is given when your child can safely swim unaided for at least 25m and use a range of recognised strokes and personal survival skills. This should be by the end of Key Stage 2 on the National Curriculum.
The National Curriculum Water Safety Award assesses your child's knowledge and skills relating to water safety.
Swimming Stroke Awards
If you are keen to show your skills in the individual strokes then this set of five awards could be for you.
Covering backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle and individual medley, these badges and certificates show you have star potential.
You'll need to learn the correct skills in strokes, turns and finishes before learning to swim faster to get these awards and badges.
Swimming Challenge Awards
The Swimming Challenge Awards are for young people working towards Stages 8-10 of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework, with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Honours Awards available.
Your children will be challenged to develop a wide range of skills and stamina in order to achieve the awards, with a focus on good stroke style. It doesn't have to comply with ASA law but strokes must be co-ordinated, smooth and efficient.
Together with four certificates and accompanying badges, the awards also come with a metal lapel badge with butterfly fastener as an optional extra.
Water Skills Awards
Covering distances of between five and 100m, the Rainbow Stroke Distance Awards complement Stages 1-7 of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework.
The Rainbow Stroke Distance Awards offer swimmers a further challenge after they have attained the Rainbow Distance Awards.
Covering front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50 and 100m, the awards have been graded to offer your child achievable steps to help develop technique while having fun.
If after attaining all awards your child wants to take his or her stroke work further then you may want to consider the Swimming Stroke Awards.
Rainbow Distance Awards
Designed to complement the 10 stages of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework, the Rainbow Distance Awards are a range of bright, cheerful badges and certificates to help keep your child motivated while working through the individual Learn to Swim stages.
Swimming ability and stamina are the focus of the 19 awards. Children over five years old can work their way from the five metres with buoyancy aid Puffin award through to the 5,000m award, depending on which stage of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework they have attained.
If your child is working through Stages 1-7 of the Framework they can also work up to the 200m Rainbow Distance Award. Learners on stages 8-10 can secure up to the 1,500m award. Swimmers who have completed all stages can strive for 5,000m.
If your child doesn't want to stop at distance and fancies a further challenge, then the ASA has devised the Rainbow Stroke Distance Awards to act as a further incentive to improve.
On a note of caution, please be aware that your child securing the Rainbow Distance Award is not an indication that he or she is safe in deep water. The ASA has designed specific awards for safety and survival.
School Speed Awards
The School Speed Awards are aligned with Stages 8-10 of the ASA Learn to Swim Framework and introduce your child to the world of competitive swimming.
These 12 awards are available in Bronze, Silver and Gold and cover front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Each stroke and award type has its own qualifying time over 20yds, 20m, 25yds and 25m (see table below) to allow for different lengths of pool.
All strokes, starts and finishes need to comply with ASA law for children to secure the awards.
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