PALM COAST, Fla. – This summer a new swim class offered in Palm Coast will encourage children to use a little imagination and with the flip of a tail they'll be swimming like mermaids in no time.
A year ago, Palm Coast Aquatics Center swim instructor Cassie Courchesne started to learn how to swim with a tail. Ever since she was a little girl, she dreamed of being a mermaid but at the time she says tails weren't easy to find. Now she gets to live out her dream and share it with others.
"If I can do it, why not offer it to children around here?" Courchesne said. "I think it's really important for them to just play, especially now when technology is such a huge thing -- everybody's glued to their tablets. I think it's a really great thing to get them out in the water."
Starting Saturday, Courchesne, 22, will be instructing swimmers from 6 -12 years old how to splash their mermaid tails at the aquatics center.
"We thought this would be a great idea just for kids to get out and play and use their imagination," Brittany McDermott, marketing recreation supervisor for the center, said.
To get into the class, mermaids in training will already need to know how to swim at least 50 yards, and float without assistance and be comfortable swimming in the deep end of the pool. Students must also bring their own tails.
This week, Courchesne met with her tailed trainees to make sure they were ready.
"I'm ready to jump in this Saturday, super excited for all my kids. They already came for their prerequisites, all of them had mermaid swimsuits on so it should be a really fun time," Courchesne said.
Participants in two sessions this summer will learn proper swimming techniques with a tail and some tricks, like fluke splashes, and how to care for a mermaid tail.
Sessions are completely booked for the summer but the program directors said they're hoping to keep the tails splashing. Click here for more information.
"We've definitely had a great response but we always evaluate our new programs; we see what the response is and there's a possibility that we can offer more sessions in the future." McDermott said.