BACK to BASICS

CLAIRE ALLISON

Kiwi kids can't swim. Despite living in a country surrounded by sea and replete with rivers and lakes, our children are becoming less capable in the water.

The statistics are sobering.

A Water Safety New Zealand report says New Zealanders are losing the ability to swim. In 2008, only one in five 10-year-olds could swim 200m freestyle, just half could swim 25m.

Drowning remains the third highest cause of unintentional death in the country – on average, 114 people die each year – and 414 people are hospitalised for "aquatic injuries".

So what happened?

School pools are closing and the New Zealand curriculum no longer requires that children learn to swim. Ministry of Education figures show that in 2001 in the Timaru district, there were 27 school swimming pools. Ten of those schools – and pools – have since closed. Two further pools have been closed leaving 15 – a little over half the original number.

Locally, learn to swim classes have 12 to 18-month waiting lists. Swimming clubs pick up some kids, but rely on members getting qualified and giving their time. Schools face challenges getting pool time, transporting students to the pool and fitting it into an already busy school year.

Timaru's new aquatic centre is scheduled to open in June 2012. Century Pool will close. The council will take over learn to swim classes – clubs and private swimming instructors will not continue.

The swimming clubs are concerned about affordability. Their fee structure is lower than commercial operations, which makes learn to swim a viable option for more families.

The council's district services manager Ashley Harper is confident the new aquatic centre will make a big difference, providing more water suitable for learn to swim at a range of depths to suit age, stage and height; and a wider timeframe during which lessons can be offered.

"We expect over time to eliminate those long waiting lists and get children into the pool earlier."

He says at times, capacity for learn to swim classes will be double what's currently able to be accommodated at Century Pool.

Harper says the council knows affordability is important, but says the detail of how learn to swim will operate, and at what cost, is still some way off – the focus now is to raise the money needed to build the complex.

"But I have no doubt that the swimming capability of all ages will be improved in time with the new Caroline Bay Aquatic Centre. We're confident we will be able to accommodate all the learn to swim that's required."

Primary school principals say there are challenges fitting swimming into the timetable, getting suitable pool time for children, and transporting them to the pool. Schools can pass on the cost of transport to parents, but not the cost of entry to the pool.

Some hope the new centre will eliminate some of the difficulties they experience getting pool time. Waimataitai principal Jane Culhane says a school's fortnight block booking can be over-ridden by historic arrangements – a situation she says is neither fair nor equitable.

"It's not easy to negotiate appropriate times for schools, so some are seriously disadvantaged, and I don't know that that's going to get any better."

Most primary schools book their students in for a block of swimming, in either the fourth or first term.

Bluestone's Ian Poulter says not to romanticise the usefulness of a school pool.

"Timaru isn't warm enough for an outside pool in school time for very much of the year. You might get a couple of weeks in December, and a couple of weeks in January."

Oceanview Heights School is taking on more responsibility to get children into the pool, with principal Wayne Facer saying that's partly because of its low decile area.

While junior students swim in term one at Maori Park Pool – managing about 15 sessions – this year senior students will go to Century Pool every week during terms two and three, guaranteeing 21 lessons.

"Not many of our children would do outside swimming lessons. What they get here is what they get. We see it as a core part of what we do here."

Swimming clubs say they're seeing a decline in swimming ability.

Timaru North Swim Club life member Margaret Ramsay and president Alison Collister say it's important that children know how to swim, and know enough to be able to get themselves out of danger.

Collister says it's a real shame fewer schools have their own pools, making it harder to get kids out of the classroom and into the water.

"I think parents don't realise that the children are not getting as much swimming, and they've suddenly woken up to the fact that they're not getting what they (the parents) used to get at school."

The club runs winter and summer seasons, charging $60 for 12 30-minute lessons. They'll deal with 50 to 60 children each season, depending on the number of coaches they can secure.

Ramsay says the club struggled to fill last winter's session until she advertised through school newsletters and was inundated with parents of five to seven-year-olds wanting to enrol their children.

South End Swimming Club life member Dave Pearce says club learn to swim is seen as a more affordable option, with a different cost structure.

He's a great believer in schools using professional instructors for their school swimming, and hopes that will happen in the new aquatic centre. But, he says the cost will be the issue, especially if swimming clubs are no longer able to offer lessons.

"It's got to meet the market, it's got to be affordable to a degree."

Swimming instructor Paul Jones takes about 100 to 120 children for half-hour lessons each week. He gets access to Century Pool for 1 1/2 to two hours a day, three days a week, and charges $90 for a 10-week term.

His waiting list is around 12 to 18 months. He could take more kids if he took on staff, but says he's been a one-man-band for 40-odd years and would rather stand on his own two feet.

Jones tries to keep bringing new kids into the learn to swim programme, instead of having children remain in lessons for years.

"I teach swimming for people to survive, not to be competitive."

He says the focus on swimming in schools often boils down to the principal's level of interest, but says there are other factors at play.

"It's not just the schools, or the learn to swim providers. When I first started at Century Pool in 1967, we had eight bike stands and they were chocker every day after school. Kids don't just go swimming for the hell of going for a swim like they used to."

Jane Sullivan is the other professional swim instructor in Timaru – she teaches at Century Pool the remaining two days of the week, with capacity for up to 200 children over those two days. Those children pay $90 for a nine-week term. Her waiting list is nine to 12 months – it would have been longer if she hadn't closed it in 2007.

She says more needs to be done to get children in the water, and ongoing lessons are needed to avoid the situation of children being able to perform a skill, but not actually learning it.

"It breaks my heart at school swimming to see year 5 and 6 kids still not putting their heads under, still not floating on their back."

Sullivan says pool programming will be crucial to the success of learn to swim in the new aquatic centre.

"But there is a lot that parents can be doing just taking their children regularly to the pool to play, and give them some water experience."

School's year-round focus on swimming pays off in sports success

Strudents at Timaru Christian School are cleaning up in the pool.

The school has made a commitment to swimming, with all 74 students heading to the pool every week, year round.

They are seeing the results, according to principal Shaun Brooker.

"For us, the payoff has been a huge amount of success at interschool tournaments. Last year, at the South Canterbury primary schools swimming sports, we were on the podium for a third of the events."

Brooker says swimming has been a focus for the school since it opened 13 years ago, and the weekly half-hour sessions are achieved through "a tonne" of parental and community help.

"It was a commitment they made right at the beginning. Physical activity is a huge thing, and we choose to do it through swimming. We think it's a really healthy option for life, and there's a safety aspect.

"Kids at the beach need to know how to swim."

Brooker says schools usually have two major physical-education sessions a week, and ongoing fitness every day.

Timaru Christian School uses one of those PE sessions for swimming. He says the school is not as successful in athletics, but that is partly because of its location.

"You couldn't run 100 metres here. You'd be out of the gate."

While location is an advantage for swimming now, with senior students able to walk to Century Pool, Brooker says the weekly sessions will continue when the school has to travel to Maori Park. "We will continue to do it. We've made a commitment to the community, and the community likes the fact that we're doing it."

The school also offers the weekly lesson to pre-enrolled pre-schoolers.

"So by the time they get into the school, they are already able to do the basics, put their faces in the water and blow bubbles. We have kids who come from other schools who are eight, nine and 10. Even getting their head into the water is a big deal for them."

Brooker says the school tested its students against the Water Safety New Zealand benchmark of swimming 200 metres freestyle.

"Our kids, 100 per cent. All our kids in that (10-year-old) age group and above. I'm fanatical about this. I think swimming is a huge thing for our kids.

- © Fairfax NZ News