By Christine Heiser
Staff Writer

Above, Jessica Lin, 2, gains confidence in the water by reaching out for a plastic dolphin while being held by her mother, Vivien, during the Baby Seals class at the Goffstown Allard Center, a branch of the Greater Manchester Family YMCA. Baby Seals, for children from 6 months to about 18 months, is just the first step in the swimming program the center offers. (Christine Heiser Photos)

If you walk into the pool area at the Allard Center in Goffstown and see a 28-year-old man holding a rubber duckie and singing “The Hokey Pokey,” don’t be alarmed.

It’s just Michael Lescord, the association aquatics director at the Greater Manchester Family YMCA, and he’s filling in for the regular teacher of the Baby Seals class.

Baby Seals is the first level of swim classes for children offered at the center. The class is for children 6 to 18 months.

“At this level, we’re just trying to get them comfortable in the water,” Lescord said. “It’s great to see, as the kids get older, how they take those first steps to swim on their own. You can see how excited they are.”

The moms in the class bundle their babies up every Friday against the cold to bring them for the half-hour lesson – mainly because the little ones love it.

Tracy Mifsud brings her 9-month-old son Adam every week so he has something to do just for him. His older brother swims, too, and he wants to get in the water with him all the time, she said.

Classes take place at the center for swimmers up to age 12 every day, after school and on weekends. Since the center has two pools – a teaching pool and a lap pool – multiple classes and free swim time for individuals can be offered.

Parents come from all over southern New Hampshire for swim lessons, from as far away as Epping, Lescord said, because the center offers small classes with one-on-one attention.

The lessons teach skills in five areas: stroke development, personal safety, personal growh, water sports and games, and basic rescue. As children move through the age levels, they work on increasing their proficiency in these same five skills.

The lessons are the feeder program for the YMCA swim teams, said Lescord. All the teams are competitive, swimming in meets as far away as Worcester.

Some swimmers from the center have gone on to swim in national meets in Florida. The Olympic teams are chosen from these competitions and the YMCA swim program is an important part of preparing these young swimmers, he said.

For more information about the swim program at the YMCA, go to www.mancnchesterymca.org.