My parents could not afford to send us all to swim lessons(5 of us), and we were in a rural town, 20 miles from a pool, so I learned to swim at age 39. One reason I got my kids into swimming lessons was because my husband was afraid of water, as is most of his family, so did not want my kids to be afraid.
Many parents simply do not have the means to send their kids to lessons, which this woman is addressing. I watched the piece on the news this morning. She fundraises 1500.00 a month to support the lessons and currently has 64 kids in the program. She is doing a great thing, but this type of thing is tough to support, AND you have to have pool availibilty, which is not happening here in Illinois any time soon.
Class sessions for each subject in middle school is around 38 minutes each. So where is the time to bundle these kids on a bus, bus them to a pool, have them change, swim, change, back on the bus and back. It would have to cut into 2-3 class times. In our state the schools have not gotten their state aid for last year, because of financial issues, swimming is the last thing they want to try and pay for.
A couple points:
1. The thread is about inner city kids. Major cities have pools. They wouldn't need to bus kids 20 miles. Kids living in rural areas would present more of a challenge, yes.
2. It doesn't take that long to teach someone to swim. Maybe this would be a program that, for example, all 3rd graders do one hour a week for a few weeks. In the overall scheme of someone's school career, that's not a lot of time.
I don't think creating a program like this would be easy. You've got to get the kids there and back, even if the pool is close. You have to secure the pool time which we know isn't always readily available. I just think the benefit would be huge.
A couple points:
1. The thread is about inner city kids. Major cities have pools. They wouldn't need to bus kids 20 miles.
2. It doesn't take that long to teach someone to swim. Maybe this would be a program that, for example, all 3rd graders do one hour a week for a few weeks. In the overall scheme of someone's school career, that's not a lot of time.
Obviously you've never been involved in anything remotely like this if you think it's simple. It's a huge undertaking. And, if you are talking a big city, it's tens of thousands of students, hundreds of volunteers. And, please remember that most inner cities have a complete lack of pools these days. If the kids can't swim, you have to get one swim instructor per about six kids plus guards on duty.
I think Ys are much better equipped to handle such outreach things as this, with the staff and experience in aquatics. I can't even imagine the mayhem that would occur if you put public schools in charge of this type of program.
One hour a week? What fantasy land is that? It take 20 minutes to get them on the bus, 20 minutes to get them back on the bus after the session, about 20 minutes in the locker room goofing off plus the time to the pool and back and the lesson time. Minimum of 3-4 hours for this undertaking per session. That doesn't even take into account the enormous planning and administration behind something like this.
Leave it to the Ys, or, better yet, the parents.
I meant one hour per week in the pool. Yeah, I'm assuming it would amount to probably a half-day of total time each week. And I never said it would be easy.
I thought I recalled Seattle has a free lesson program, so I looked it up:
www.seattle.gov/.../public.htm
It looks like the way they've done it is leave the responsibility to the parents. They send the voucher to all third and fourth graders' homes and it's up to the parents to actually get the kids to the pool for the lessons outside school hours.
Leave it to the Ys, or, better yet, the parents.
Well, that's the current system and it obviously hasn't been working for everyone.
My university required a swimming proficiency "test" before you could graduate. It was very basic but did make a person exhibit basic survival swimming. It was dropped a few years back. I always thought that was a good idea. If you couldn't pass the test, they had classes to get you proficient. Rumor has it Chris Stevenson flunked it the first 3 times.
I thought I recalled Seattle has a free lesson program, so I looked it up:
www.seattle.gov/.../public.htm
It looks like the way they've done it is leave the responsibility to the parents. They send the voucher to all third and fourth graders' homes and it's up to the parents to actually get the kids to the pool for the lessons outside school hours.
Maine actually has a similar program for skiing. :laugh2:
www.winterkids.org/.../
The woman who this news piece is about said that it never occurred to her to get her kids lessons. She said that fear of water had been passed down from generation to generation in her family. It was not until her teen son drown that she realized that kids need to learn to swim. So, having it in the schools, if feasible would be a good choice, although simply not available. In Urbana, once they built their indoor center, they have been able to offer swim lessons to their kids. A good thing.
Y's offer a water safety course twice a year, and our Y gives coupons to the participants for a session of lessons. It is geared toward the people who cannot afford lessons, and is taught by volunteers(I have taught it for many years). It is scary that these kids that come into my class seem to think they know how to swim, but are far from water safe.
The focus these days is on test scores. We wouldn't want anyone to be left behind.
I sense a little sarcasm here, but I'm not clear on whether you think the current focus of schools is correct or not. I think it's obvious schools need to focus on traditional academics such as reading and math, but physical education is also part of the school curriculum. Doesn't it seem like teaching kids to swim is more important than teaching them how to play kickball?
What is the take-a-way for USMS?
From a club level, here is a cut & paste from Dallas Aquatic Masters website:
Special Events
Overcome your fear of water - DAM Head Coach Jim Montgomery and the Transpersonal Swimming Institute have teamed up to offer a proven class that teaches afraid students to overcome fear in the water - shallow & deep, pool and ocean - and to swim. If you know of anyone that is afraid to swim and wants to learn to prevent panic or overcome this fear, call Jim at the DAM office 214-219-2300 or email him at montgomery@damswim.com .Visit the Conquer Fear site for more information.
A few years ago, I asked Jim why there was so much focus on all the non-competitive programs our club was offering, and why they didn't encourage entering swim meets more. His answer was that there are more people interested in learning to swim and swim basics than competitive swimmers. I think that is true - if 1800+ enter nationals, and there are about 43k registered USMS, then the vast majority are in it for something else. Those that compete already take the intiative to join a club, whereas the bulk of new membership will occur with people who want to learn to swim.
From an LMSC level,..can someone answer this? I think USMS has some sort of grant or financial award to LMSC's that develop a program and sustain it - I think last year's winner was the only entrant and it was for a pilates program? Or something like that? I would think that starting a program to help adults learn to swim/overcome fear of water, etc (disadvantaged? disabled? retirement community? etc) might fall under that umbrella.
