The swimming lessons are starting again, but the waiting is not over yet.
More than 500 children are on the list at the Starnberg water rescue service.
Some of them will probably only get their turn in a year and a half.
District - After a year and a half, they are paddling through the pool again with their swimming belts. The boys and girls who had to break off their five-week course for beginners in the seaside resort of Starnberg in March of last year due to a pandemic are now starting again. The course of the BRK water rescue service in Starnberg takes place twice a week with twelve children and four trainers. If all goes well, they'll soon be wearing the seahorse badge on their swim trunks and swimsuits. And then they are replaced by the next longingly waiting five to eight year old. There are many of them. More than 500 children are on the waiting list for the beginners course.
The main reason for the massive backlog is well known: due to the corona pandemic, courses were canceled for a year and a half.
Julia Volks, volunteer swimming trainer for the Wasserwacht, says: “Everyone who waited for a place on the course at that time is still waiting.” The indoor pools have been open again for a few weeks and the swimming courses have started.
Nevertheless, the waiting for parents and children continues.
"At the moment we have to expect a waiting time of one and a half years," says Oliver Jauch, press spokesman for the Starnberg water rescue service.
He also cites the lack of trainers and indoor swimming pools in the region as further reasons for the long list.
Even before the pandemic, the children would have had to wait six months.
Even after the course, the motto is: practice, practice, practice
These facts are particularly frightening when one takes a look into the immediate future of this generation. The 2017 study by the German Life Saving Society (DLRG) shows that 23 percent of ten-year-olds are unsafe swimmers (19 percent) or non-swimmers (four percent). And it is precisely with the somewhat older children that Jauch sees a danger: “At a young age, parents usually take very good care of their children. But when they grow up to be twelve to 14 year olds and have not caught up on the swimming course, behavior quickly becomes much more risk-taking, which often ends with fatal consequences. "
Even if the first group has successfully completed their swimming course in the seaside resort of Starnberg, their training should by no means be considered completed. “Then it is time to practice, practice, practice. A seahorse does not confirm that you can swim safely, it confirms that you can stay 25 meters above water in a swimming pool. ”From Jauch's point of view, children only become safe swimmers if they practice regularly with their parents. His message: “Please do not hesitate to become active yourself. Because your children's technology can always be improved later. "
For preschool children and first graders, the Free State will issue a voucher for 50 euros for a course to purchase the seahorse in the school year 2021/22, as reported by the Bavarian State Sports Association. The government wants to create an incentive for parents to send their children to swimming courses and to support clubs. For water watch spokesman Jauch, the funding starts in the wrong place. He rather advocates an expansion of capacities, i.e. a larger range of pools, trainers and courses.
The city of Starnberg wants to set up a new course program that is to be more broadly based than the previous one with the help of external freelance workers.
“We are still in the middle of planning,” says City Hall spokeswoman Lena Choi.
For example, the trainers still have to be trained and employed.
The courses should start this year and be bookable online.
Chiara cauldron
