Taking the plunge

Coral Wilson

It was the final days of summer and a last chance for 3- to

5-year-old children in Surf City’s Tiny Tots swimming class to master

some basic skills -- such as blowing bubbles and keeping their faces

in the water.

Competing with an attention span of only 15 seconds, water safety

instructors Mark Thornberry and Stefanie Wissmann combined water

skills with a lot of songs and games.

“What kind of a pancake are you going to be?” Wissmann asked

5-year-old Amy Stengel, turning Amy to float on her back.

Amy chose ice cream and sprinkles. Skylar White, 4, chose just

sprinkles.

“Flip me over and I’ll swim back,” Wissmann sang, flipping the

pancakes over one at a time.

“Face in the water,” she called out, as they splashed their way to

the edge of the pool.

While practicing big arm swimming strokes, Amy chose to imitate a

crocodile. She made large arm strokes in the air until Wissmann let

her loose in the water.

After arriving safely at the pool’s edge, Amy reconsidered the

logic of her choice.

“Crocodiles don’t swim like that,” she said.

Crocodiles walk with their feet, they don’t swim, she said. Also,

people don’t have tails and crocodiles don’t wear goggles, she

continued.

From the other side of the pool, Thornberry was throwing Chloe

Hohne, 4, in the air. With a big smile, she lifted her arms, enjoyed

the ride and then asked to be thrown in the air once again.

Already very comfortable in the water, Chloe was well beyond her 4

years. She was not afraid of swimming long distances or trying

various stunts, twists and jumps into the water.

Wissmann took her small class of four on an airplane ride to

Alaska. They held onto their instructor’s arms as they traveled to

the other side of the pool where they got out and headed for Edison

High School’s second pool -- the deep one.

One by one, they braved their way to the edge of the diving board.

“Wowie, what a jump,” Wissmann said, pulling each one up from the

deep water and swimming them to safety.

Jordan Marcy, 4, was the last to jump. She squatted on one end of

the long board and held on tightly as she wobbled her way to the

edge.

She had jumped before but always while holding Wissmann’s hand.

Now, Jordan was ready to try it on her own.

Rising from her squatting position, Jordan’s forward leap was

accompanied by the click of a camera and ended with a loud belly flop

in the water.

Jordan rose, confused, wiping water from her eyes. Her mother kept

watch, camera in hand.

Back at shore, Jordan broke her strong grasp from the edge of the

pool. Lifting one arm and with a proud smile, she posed for the

camera with a big thumbs up -- about ready to hit the beach.