Tarrant children study to swim for security. What are different advantages?

Samuel Ortega, 4, sported his Buzz Lightyear bathing suit while he practiced his backstroke with his swimming instructor.

Samuel associates the stroke with three words: chicken, star, rocket. He bends his arms and legs inward, then extends them in a star formation before pushing all limbs downward to propel his body. Known specifically as an elementary backstroke, it was one of multiple swimming skills he and his peers honed during a 30-minute lesson on Thursday at Aqua-Tots Swim School in Fort Worth.

The swim lesson is among several offered in the Tarrant County area as the Texas summertime begins to kick off. Although experts encourage families to enroll their children in lessons year-round, summer is the busiest season for swim lessons after the traditional school year ends, said Sara Russell, Texas regional manager of Aqua-Tots Swim Schools.

“There’s so much water in Texas — there’s pools and the lakes — so just having kids know how to be safe is the most crucial part. We obviously want them to become confident swimmers as well, but if we can get them to know the safety aspects of water, so that they understand how to save themselves, that is the most important thing to us,” Russell said.

Swimming and water safety are essential skills for young children. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4, and the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death after car crashes for children ages 5-14, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One study shows there are cognitive and academic benefits to swimming, too. Children who swim were shown to be six to 15 months ahead of their peers in cognitive skills, problem solving in math, counting, language and following instructions, according to a study by the Griffith Institute for Educational Research. The findings included children who were 5 years old and younger from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

“While we expected the children to show better physical development and perhaps be more confident through swimming, the results in literacy and numeracy really shocked us,” said lead researcher and professor Robyn Jorgensen.

Samuel’s father, Jeffrey Ortega, said he’s been taking lessons for about two years, which have helped ease his mind as a parent during times when Samuel is around water. Samuel learning how to hold his breath underwater has been useful, even during bath time.

“We’ve always wanted to enroll him in swimming (lessons), but we also like to take a lot of vacations and whatnot. So we figured, get him started early and just see if he likes it. And from day one he actually liked it a lot,” Ortega said.

Lisa Zarda, executive director of the United States Swim School Association, said water acclimation is key for children to understand how they can save themselves in dangerous scenarios. She named other examples of skills that Samuel and other young swimmers worked on such as rolling over and floating on your back, in addition to holding on to the side wall of the pool and “crawling” left and right.

“I think it’s that acclimation piece of just understanding what it feels like to not panic (and) that they do have things that they can do to be able to get some air (and) catch a breath,” Zarda said.

Zarda noted how each child learns at their own pace, and there is no set formula for how many hours or days a week are required for a child to master swimming. She encourages consistent practice year-round.

“Not everyone’s going to learn their math facts at the same speed, or how to write or read, so you know each student is going to be a little bit different in how much time it takes,” she said. “Like any other skill that they’re learning, the more often you do it, the more frequently you do it, the more it’s kind of ingrained and almost becomes somewhat of second nature to utilize those skills.”

Where can families find swim lessons?

Organizations and initiatives such as the United States Swim School Association, Every Child A Swimmer, American Red Cross and the YMCA have searchable maps on where to find swim lessons in the Tarrant County and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

United States Swim School Association: https://usswimschools.org/find-a-school/

Every Child a Swimmer: https://everychildaswimmer.org/find-a-lesson/

American Red Cross: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/types-of-emergencies/water-safety/water-safety-training-provider.html?srsltid=AfmBOopA4rA27GwylYg76jZzRFbFyO8_1bPVvleVE-bLhcwr43dz0Bgw

YMCA of Metropolitan Fort Worth: https://ymcafw.org/swimming/group-lessons/

Fort Worth Drowning Prevention Coalition: https://www.fwdpc.org/register

This story was initially revealed May 22, 2026 at 5:30 AM.