By the summer holidays, the water rescue service in the Free State wants to make as many children as possible safe swimmers again. Last year, around 17,800 children took part in swimming courses run by the Bavarian water rescue service, as its state chairman Thomas Huber announced on Tuesday in Grafing at the start of this year’s “Bayern schwimmt” campaign. “This number is not as high as it has been in the last four years.”
There is still some catching up to do after the pandemic. In 2019 – the last year before the pandemic – around 10,700 children learned to swim in the lifeguard courses. “This shows the backlog and the great need that we can only meet with sufficient swimming areas. A swimming instructor without a bath is like a football coach without space,” said Huber.
During the pandemic, swimming and school swimming were not possible for a long time. In addition, due to the energy situation, water temperatures in the bathrooms had to be lowered. This is an exclusion criterion, especially for small children to get used to the water. “But it seems as if we are now slowly catching up on the backlog. One thing is clear: we must continue to have enough pools available for vital swimming training in the future and must therefore recognize that swimming pools are much more than a cost burden for municipalities.”
“Swimming is an existential skill and can save lives,” said Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters) at the start of the campaign. State President Ilse Aigner (CSU) as patron said that children who could swim not only have more fun in and around the water. They are also significantly less at risk of getting into trouble.
With the best bathing weather, the helpers of the water rescue service had to move out several times in the past few days. For a 41-year-old stand-up paddler on Staffelsee, however, the help came too late. He died after an accident with the sports equipment on Monday.