This October, we’re kicking off a brand-new campaign – Celebrate Your Way – spotlighting the importance of regular reward and recognition in swimming lessons, and sharing the different ways operators and teachers can celebrate the children they teach.

Because not every achievement looks like a medal on a podium.

Sometimes it’s five extra metres. Sometimes it’s a child finally letting go of the rail. Sometimes it’s simply having the confidence to put their face in the water for the first time. These small, individual steps matter just as much as the big milestones.

At STA, we believe recognising progress plays an important role in building confidence, enjoyment and a lifelong love of swimming. It’s why we want teachers and swim schools to have the flexibility and resources to celebrate achievement in ways that are meaningful to every swimmer.

Why the small stuff matters

It’s tempting to think the moments worth celebrating are the obvious ones – a certificate earned, a grade passed or a distance completed. But children don’t experience learning to swim as one big moment of success.

Swimming is a skill built through dozens of small breakthroughs.

Work by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck into praise and motivation has highlighted the value of recognising effort and progress rather than focusing solely on outcomes or innate ability. Her research found that children praised for their effort showed greater persistence and enjoyment of a task than those praised for ability alone.

In practical terms, telling a child “you worked so hard at that” can create a very different relationship with learning than simply telling them “you’re so good at that”.

That feels particularly relevant in a swimming lesson. Recognising the steps along the way, rather than waiting for the end point, can help build the confidence and resilience that keeps children engaged and wanting to come back to the water.

Enjoyment matters

We also know that enjoyment has an important role to play in keeping young people involved in swimming.

When USA Swimming investigated why young swimmers were leaving the sport, enjoyment emerged as a key factor in a child’s motivation to continue, while a lack of fun was one of the most common reasons given for stopping.

That gives us something important to think about beyond competitive swimming too. Joy, encouragement and recognition aren’t simply “nice to haves” alongside technical teaching. They help create the positive experiences that keep children connected to swimming for longer.

And enjoyment isn’t only about encouraging children to come back. Research into learning suggests that positive emotion can play a role in how experiences are processed and remembered. For swimming teachers, it’s a useful reminder that creating a lesson environment built around encouragement, enjoyment and celebrating progress isn’t simply about making lessons more fun – it can support the learning experience too.

And for us, that really matters. Keeping children engaged isn’t just about developing better swimmers; it’s about helping to create safer, more confident children and, hopefully, a lifelong relationship with the water.

What Norway can teach us

There’s an interesting example of this philosophy in Norway.

Norway’s extraordinary sporting success has attracted attention because its youth sport model has traditionally placed participation, enjoyment and personal development ahead of early specialisation and competitive pressure.

Its “Joy of Sport for All” philosophy is built around giving children positive sporting experiences, allowing them to develop at their own pace and helping them experience a sense of achievement, friendship and enjoyment along the way.

Participation is remarkably high. According to the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports, 93% of children in Norway have been members of a sports club.

But the interesting lesson for us isn’t really about Norway’s medal tally. It’s what sits behind that participation. When children are encouraged to enjoy sport, develop at their own pace and have their individual progress recognised, they have more reasons to stay involved.

That’s a principle that translates naturally to swimming. The longer children stay engaged, the more opportunities they have to develop their skills and confidence – and to build a lifelong relationship with the water.

Every child’s success looks different

This is really at the heart of Celebrate Your Way.

Children don’t all progress at the same pace or in the same way. One swimmer might reach a distance milestone quickly. For another, putting their face in the water could represent weeks of building confidence – and that breakthrough deserves just as much recognition.

Children may also respond differently to how their achievements are celebrated. For some, it might be earning a badge or certificate. For others, it could be verbal praise in the moment, seeing their progress recorded, achieving a personal best or completing a fun challenge.

Aquatics is perfectly placed for this kind of flexible recognition because there are so many opportunities to celebrate progress – from grades and badges to personal milestones and playful challenges.

The important thing is that success doesn’t have to look the same for every child.

Celebrate Your Way

That’s why, throughout October, we’ll be sharing different ways swimming teachers, swim schools and operators can reward and recognise achievement – reflecting different swimmers, different milestones and different ways to celebrate success.

At STA, this is an area where we’re continuing to innovate, ensuring our awards, resources and systems evolve to support the next generation of swimmers and the people who teach them.

We’ll be shining a light on some existing favourites, sharing ideas and resources, and introducing some exciting new rewards designed around the same principle: mastery over comparison and personal best over podium.

Because whether it’s a first splash, a new skill, an extra five metres or a complete award, progress deserves to be recognised.

Every splash. Every stroke. Every success.

#CelebrateYourWay