Not enough water areas for swimming courses

Created: 06/30/2022, 06:55 am

By: Nikola Obermeier

The number of non-swimmers is higher than ever.

Photo: dpa © dpa

The waiting lists for swimming courses are long and the number of children who cannot swim is high.

A search for the cause.

Dachau – In Bavaria, around 200,000 children cannot swim, as the German Life Saving Society announced.

How many there are in the district of Dachau is difficult to quantify.

But here, too, the problem is not primarily the lockdown, but the lack of course lanes in indoor pools.

This is reported by the Dachau municipal works, the Dachau water rescue service and the Dachau swimming club.

The optimal age for swimming lessons is five to six years

The right age, a good swimming course and the support of the parents: these things are important for a child to learn to swim.

Most of the children who attend courses are five to six years old, explains Barabara Kern, head of public baths.

According to Kern, 621 children between the ages of five and six completed a course at Stadtwerke last year.

This age is ideal for learning to swim.

Because at around five years of age, children are able to implement targeted swimming movements.

The course, which concludes with the sea horse at Stadtwerke, comprises ten units.

"That's enough for the seahorse at most, but not to gain security in the water," explains Kern.

This is where the parents come into play: the children must continue to practice safety.

But many parents apparently don't have time to go swimming with their children, says Kern: "a problem that we've been observing for a long time".

Therefore, more and more children have to complete a second and third swimming course.

"Because it's quite possible that the children will forget how to swim again - it's not enough with just one course!"

Parents have to swim diligently with the child after the course

Oliver Welter, chairman of the Dachau water rescue service, also made this observation: "If a child no longer comes to swim after a course, the course is given away." It also makes little sense for younger children to take part in a swimming course.

Courses for younger children may be a good step towards getting used to the water, but it makes sense for five to six-year-olds to do a course with the seahorse at the end - and then continue training.

Welter also observed at his water rescue service that the rush for swimming courses was enormous: swimming courses are offered in the indoor swimming pool Indersdorf together with the Vhs Indersdorf - which are always booked up quickly.

The problem is not a shortage of swimming instructors, but the lack of water areas.

Although there are three indoor swimming pools in the district that are open outside of school hours, "ultimately we are competing with all leisure activities that want water, such as water polo, water aerobics and much more".

Swimming courses in the outdoor pool don't work, says Welter.

A five-year-old child in drizzle and 16 degrees in the cold water: "We tried it once, but the feedback was bad, both from the parents and from the participants."

Swimming courses outdoors have not proven themselves

Last year, the Dachau swimming club also tried to hold a swimming course in the outdoor pool - to catch up on the backlog caused by the pandemic.

"But the water is too cold, the weather and therefore the dates too uncertain," explains Chairman Stefan Hefele.

"The kids don't enjoy it." The SVD offers four courses a year, two for beginners and two for advanced, each with 12 to 15 participants.

The SVD takes an average of 60 children through both courses per season.

"The courses are all full, we have a great demand," says Hefele.

The waiting time is currently "virtually endless" for external people, "since we are already fully utilizing our capacities with children from our parent-child swimming pool as well as existing members from children's gymnastics and offspring from club members.

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The swimming club teaches according to the modern Swimstars concept, in which children first learn how to swim crawl and backstroke and only later how to "coordinatively demanding breaststroke", says Hefele.

"Our courses are designed for a starting age of between four and five years." The swimming club is not dependent on parental supervision: "You have to become a member for the swimming courses and have the opportunity to advance in the course system," says Hefele.

"So we'll take care of the aftercare ourselves." The SVD could also offer more courses, the problem is the lack of capacity - i.e. the lack of course tracks.

Courses for school children take up a lot of space at Stadtwerke

The public utilities also have this problem.

"At some point, the capacities of our small bathroom are simply exhausted," says Kern.

"If two courses take place at the same time, then half of the non-swimmer pool is occupied." And a group of ten children certainly causes waves - which disturbs other bathers.

Therefore, you have to pay attention to a balanced cooperation.

At Stadtwerke, the courses for school children also take up a lot of space: In the school year 20/21, 28 third and fourth graders completed a swimming course, in 21/22 there were 39 children.

"Since the pools have been open again, we have increased our activities to teach many children in primary school how to swim," says Kern.

This year there was even a subsidy of 50 euros from the state per child and swimming course for a swimming course that ends with the seahorse.

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