Story and Photos by Charlie Walsh ’30
MICDS Swimming Coach Khannie Dastgah is teaching the Winter Term class “Rams Can Swim” to fifth and sixth-grade students. When asked about this class, Parker Winegrad, ’30, said, “It is nice being in the water, and I am having a lot of fun.” Parker went on to say, ”I have learned a lot about breathing and breathing better, which makes us swim better.”
Coach Dastgah is teaching the students how to swim in all different ways. Students help teach other students as well. The students practice all the different strokes. The class practiced the breaststroke kick by sitting on the wall and kicking in circles. Coach Dastgah shared how much improvement she had seen so far. She said, “A student went from being afraid of the water and wouldn’t put their face in, to being able to swim on their back for a short distance without any assistance.”
When asked about the learning goal for the class, she said, “Everybody has different learning goals. We made them take a survey on the first day and the students all had different goals, from learning how to float on their back, being a better freestyler, to helping someone else be a better swimmer. A lot of them said their biggest goal was to have fun.”
The students learned all kinds of swimming skills from Coach Dastgah and helped teach each other those skills, too. The kids were doing different strokes and techniques in the water from backstroke to breaststroke, but most importantly, the students were having a lot of fun in Rams Can Swim!
