Aquatics

Lifeguard certification is a 25-30 hour commitment that includes online and hands-on training. At the conclusion, students are eligible to work in a number of Aquatics areas both at UT and in the community.

The initial lifeguard certification course costs $65 for RecSports employees; $200 for UT students and faculty and staff with an active RecSports membership; and $250 for the general public.

Recertification courses, which are required every two years, are free for RecSports employees and $75 for anyone else. 

Register for lifeguard classes

First-aid and CPR certification is a 25-30 hour commitment that includes online and hands-on training. 

Register for a first-aid and CPR class

The refund request must be made at least one week prior to the start of the lesson you have signed up for. Anything past this date will be determined based on circumstance and need. We strongly encourage you to look at upcoming lesson availability and email us to see if we can transfer your registration to another lesson or class. 

To ensure you are viewing the most current information on parking on the UT Knoxville campus, please visit the Parking and Transportation website where they list their options for Visitor Parking. Find additional information on our Visitor Parking page. We will also send out detailed information on parking in the pre-course swim lesson email that we send out before the session begins.  

Swim lessons will be located at the Student Aquatic Center in either the indoor or outdoor pool. The Student Aquatic Center is located at 2106 Andy Holt Ave, and it is the big blue brick building next to the RecSports Parking Lot. The outdoor pool is adjacent to the Student Aquatic Center.  

The check-in point for swim lessons is between the two buildings. From check-in, participants may follow the blue “Enter Here” sign above the main entrance and can change into their swimsuits using the Student Aquatic Center facilities which include a women’s and men’s locker room and an all-gender bathroom. Below is an image of the Student Aquatic Center’s front doors and walkway where our check-in table will be located (weather permitting): 

The Student Aquatic Center has both an indoor and an outdoor pool.

Swim lessons can occur in either facility. Whether we are in the indoor or outdoor pool for a lesson depends on weather, space availability, the use of the pool for groups, water temperature, and other factors. We work to keep parents and students up to date on changes in location. Please keep in mind that changes can happen due to situations out of our control.  

During swim lessons, excluding parent-child lessons, we ask that parents or guardians sit away from the poolside so as not to distract their swimmer. This allows for the instructor to build trust with their class participants and create a positive learning environment for trying out new skills. The outdoor pool has first-come, first-served deck chairs and tables, and the indoor pool has bleacher seating in addition to deck chairs. The seating is a balanced distance away from the water’s edge to allow parents and guardians to enjoy watching swim lessons while also promoting an independent learning environment for the students. 

Please review the Learn-to-Swim level descriptions and evaluate how much exposure your child has had to the water and swimming before registering for a class. We utilize the American Red Cross Water Safety Course as a guideline for identifying swim lesson levels as well as what skills and information we teach in a class. Identifying the description that best matches your child’s abilities can benefit them greatly as they are in an appropriate environment to improve and develop their current skill level. 

Once you have clicked this button, navigate to the “Aquatics” classification and the “Swim Lessons” tag to filter the Learn-to-Swim classes available for registration. Click on your desired Learn-to-Swim Level and scroll to Offerings. There you will find the Sessions (with their corresponding dates) and times slots that they will occur. When you’ve found the dates and times that work best for you, click the “Sign in” button. 

If you are a UT member or affiliate, enter the NetID of you or the person you are affiliated with. If you are not a UT member or affiliate, you must create a Fusion account by clicking “Sign up.” Once you have finished creating an account, click “Select” and continue the registration process. If you are signing up your child, you will need to add them as a family member and create an affiliate account that is accessible to yours. When you have completed the necessary steps and received a confirmation email, you have successfully registered for a swim class. 

One of our sessions includes the bundle of the dates listed when you go to register, which is typically four lessons. Depending on your availability and time commitment, we recommend signing up for as many sessions as there are available to help the student continue to develop and master skills.  

Swim lessons are between 30 and 45 minutes long. The length of a lesson can be dependent on a variety of factors: how many participants are in a lesson, what level the lesson is, the abilities and skill level of each group of students, if the students are exhibiting exhaustion, etc. Our instructors follow the American Red Cross Water Safety course suggestions of at least 30-minute lessons. It is up to each instructor’s knowledge and discretion about the length of each lesson to help promote a safe and enjoyable swim lesson experience. 

With each new lesson, we will send out a pre-course email with details about our swim lessons, including each swim level’s corresponding instructor. We encourage parents and students to look at instructor bios and talk with instructors before or after lessons.  

We want to help foster communication between instructors, parents, and students. If you would like to contact your instructor, email us to let us know. To protect our student employees’ privacy and time, we will not disclose student emails until we have received a request and obtained agreement from the instructor. Coordinators, graduate assistants, and student assistants will be copied on emails to foster healthy and helpful communication. 

There is no specific number of lessons to sign up for, but we encourage you to sign up for as many as you are available for. Consistently practicing swimming skills may enhance the ability to advance levels more quickly.  

Our lessons are open for registration for the entire semester we offer them (e.g. all fall semester sessions get released before the first lesson begins). This is meant to give ample opportunity for parents and students to decide if they would like to sign up for only one or multiple lessons. While the registrations remain open until seven days before the beginning of the lesson, class sizes are limited and thus it is first-come, first-served. We recommend checking the website regularly for updates on registrations and the number of available slots. 

Pre-course emails are sent one week before the start of a swim lesson. These emails are meant to provide information on where to go, where to park, how to buy a parking pass, what to expect, who the instructors are, and more. They also allow a way for communication to begin between swim lessons staff and participants.