More Than an In-Service: A Layered Approach to Aquatics Staff Training


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Aquatics staff training is beyond a monthly in-service requirement. Learn to take a layered approach to aquatics staff training by breaking up workplace culture expectations and protocol, operational and emergency procedures, and program administration into bite-sized education that is delivered in a variety of formats, but offered to a variety of team members. Use your creativity to come up with the "what" instead of the "how" by completing a training needs assessment and building your own customized Hierarchy of Staff Training. Learn to find ways to replicate yourself in the overall structure of staff training, so your team can learn predominately from passive, group, peer, and environmental ways of coaching and learning. Gone are the days of focusing primarily on energy (and time!) heavy one-on-one training or reverting back to monthly lifeguard in-services as the sole source of information delivered to staff.


Learning Objectives
Following this session, learners will be able to:

  1. Identify aquatics and workplace-specific content, to effectively deliver necessary information to staff.
  2. Understand the five parts of the hierarchy of staff training.
  3. Break up the division of focus and how-to spread out training to all members of the team.

Katherine Connell

Aquatics Program Supervisor

City of Iowa City

Kate Connell is an advocate for equity in recreational water use and has assisted in providing free swimming lessons, safety education and accessible pool events. Connell leads trainings and conversations on equitable aquatics, staff training and humanness through leadership. She also is experienced in private recreation as a yoga teacher trainer and author of The Art of Teaching Private Yoga.

Sydney Stodola

Recreation Assistant/Assistant Aquatics Supervisor

Fargo Park District

Sydney Stodola is a community-minded recreational professional based out of the Midwest. She currently serves as the recreation assistant for the city of Iowa City (Iowa) Parks and Recreation Department. Stodola aims to provide fun, educational and equitable opportunities to those in her municipality and beyond by advocating for exciting and inclusive aquatic programming and policies. She believes that with enough creativity, spunk and thorough research and planning, we can meet the needs of each and every person we serve.

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