The recent drowning of eight learners from Ndlela High School, in Mpumalanga, during their visit to Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal, points again to an urgent need to intensify swimming lessons at schools.
‘Every drowning is one life too many; the human and national asset of a life — is tragic. We cannot undo what happened, but we can stop the wave and reduce the drowning statistics by educating our young ones,” says Easlyn Fredricks from Learn to Swim (LTS), a programme run by Swimming South Africa (SSA).
SSA identified schools as key partners and avenues through which it can raise awareness among the young. To date, SSA has trained 500 teachers across the country and 15 of them obtained instructors’ accreditation, says Matsha. The majority of these teachers come from Ekurhuleni area, east of Gauteng.
LTS offers three kinds of programmes: ocean splash, rural splash and pool splash. Each one focuses on specific skills for swimming in different kinds of water. For instance, rural splash is for those who live near dams and rivers. Those living at the sea receive training in ocean splash, and pool splash is for those in urban areas.
But SSA’s spokesperson, Luvuyo Matsha, says efforts to expand the programme in the rural areas and townships are hampered by limited sponsorship, with Telkom currently SSA’s sole sponsor. At a cost of R80 000 a year to train one swimmer, Matsha says it will be extremely difficult to broaden its reach significantly.
An important focus for SSA is on transformation, and it aims not only to provide the life skill to as many previously disadvantaged youngsters as possible, but also to produce more black swimmers who can compete at Olympic level.
‘If you look at our world championship team currently competing in Montreal in Canada, there are four black swimmers in a squad of 12. So, yes, we are expecting black swimmers to come through,” says Matsha.
Matsha says he hopes with time more black learners will think of swimming not just as recreation, but also as a possible career.