Swim schools aim to keep heads above the water

AS we enter summer, vital swimming lessons missed during this year have some professionals worried.

Swimming coach and swim school owner Mark Stahl said COVID restrictions had the potential to impact his early developmental students the hardest.

“The beginners are the ones who have really missed out over this year, the ones who can swim are alright, but the ones that can’t might go to beaches, rivers or dams and think they will be okay, won’t be,” he said.

“That’s the biggest fear for me.

“It’s the kids at risk and need those swimming lessons to be aware of the dangers of water and to not be blasé about it.”

Mark Stahl Swimming School usually offers weeknight and weekend sessions at both the Ballarat Grammar School and at the Queen Elizabeth facility for all levels of swimmer.

“I hope we can get our pre-junior and junior squads going again to a degree depending on the numbers we’re allowed to have because they’re the most at risk,” Mr Stahl said.

“If we can get the learn to swim going, it gives us five weeks before the end of term which is a starting point for the beginners to learn.”

While professional swimming is at the core of his school, Mr Stahl said for the younger students the focus is on the basics of water safety.

“We have a heavy focus on water safety and survival, not so much on the swimming side of it,” he said.

“We taught the kids lots of survival skills, recue tactics and what to do if they fall in the pool, we talk about how to read a current in a river and how to find where a rip is in the beach.

“It should always be water safety, survival and then swimming.”

For babies and young children who may have missed out on crucial swimming lessons during the lockdown period, Mr Stahl said he suggests parents look to incorporate lessons about water safety into their day-to-day.

“Realistically you can’t have swimming lessons every night of the week because it’s too expensive but I would be encouraging families to get their kids into two lessons a week,” he said.

“If you go to the swimming lesson and you get taught how to hold your baby correctly on the front, back and side in the pool then you can have a couple of days and practice that in the bath.

“That way there isn’t so much of a financial imposition on parents either.”

As other sports begin re-commencing, many swim schools are still in the dark as to when they will be able to re-open and continue classes.

Although operating at any capacity is the goal, Mr Stahl said that running his classes with restricted numbers will be challenging.

“When we opened the swim school in between the two lockdowns, because we could only have 20 kids in the water, it was financially challenging,” he said.

“However, at the same time a lot of families will want to do swimming lessons for the benefit of their kids, but they may have lost a job or their income.

“Swim schools possibly need to look at reducing the cost for families, so they might charge less for a lesson but if that means they come to two lessons a week and we’ll hopefully break even.”