I found this article saved in my drafts, it made me smile. Cassie three years later is a fish in the water. She swims about 12 lengths of the Ancaster Aquatic Centre. It is amazing to see how far she has come.
Posted By CATHY PELLETIER , CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
Up until recently, Kathy Fruck has never had any luck getting her eight-year-old daughter Cassie interested in swimming. But that was before they met Josh Packham.Soon after beginning her private swimming instruction at the Packham family pool, the youngster with cerebral palsy was taking to her lessons like a duck to water.
"I heard about the lessons from a friend of the family," said Fruck," adding that Cassie was one of "a small class of three children. I tried to get my daughter swimming in Hamilton with many programs and she has never enjoyed it. She has been afraid of water. But I think it was his style. He's really good with children," she said, referring to 25- year-old Josh Packham.
"Every day, Cassie wanted to go. She couldn't wait to get there. Every day she was talking about Josh and phoning my mom and telling her about what she did that day."
Set in a homey environment, "on a country farm road with a big fence around the pool," Fruck feels the relaxed atmosphere also made it easier for the young students to learn how to swim.
"They have it set up with a little changeroom and the parents get to sit outside the pool and watch the kids swim."
More than anything, Fruck believes Packham's supportive teaching technique is what leads to children's ultimate success in mastering movement within the water.
"He's so comical with the kids," said Fruck. "They were all at different levels. The one little boy had fears in the deep end and the third one could go to the deep end, but I think it was better that way, because Cassie had some boys to pattern herself after, which worked well. She has totally taken off and she would never let go of the wall before, so just getting comfortable getting in and out is huge. She can float and learned how to use a float-board and kick across the pool. If you have C. P., it takes a lot of coordination and she does it for him. "My mom even said, 'If he told me to jump in, I'd do it.'"
Under Packham's tutelage, Cassie has also learned to master her fear of putting her face in the water, which was formerly "a big scare for her," according to Fruck.
"Josh would ask Cassie, 'Is your hair wet, Cassie?'" Once she felt it and found that it wasn't, she tting her face in, said Fruck.
"It's such a neat style and the kids try a little harder for him. The boy didn't really want to jump in the deep end but the next thing you knew, he was doing it. It's offering so much encouragement for the bravery; this man with the upbeat class."
Although the lessons only lasted an hour a day for a week, Fruck hopes to enroll Cassie for another week during August.
"It's a great summer job," said Packham, a supply teacher for Haldimand students from Kindergarten through Grade 10. A swimmer since the age of three, Packham and his younger brother Jeremy enjoy sharing swimming skills in their home base. "I've done it for 10 years." When it comes to teaching children with physical limitations, such as Cassie, he finds that "just having a good attitude helps. We made sure she could work on stuff she would be successful with," he explained. "We didn't worry about the stuff that she was unable to do."
Classes begin every hour from Monday through Friday at the Packham's pool on Lane Road. "You just call and sign up and we put you in the appropriate time slot for your level," said Packham. "When they finish the week, they get a report card listing the requirements and then they get a badge."
We spend a lot of time at the Lake, Cassie loves to swim. She has been doing All ages laps and uses a flutter board, sometimes she swims with no board, she still needs goggles as she does not like chlorine in her eyes.
