Virtually all Dutch children follow swimming lessons starting from an
age of 5 years old. Up until the 1980s these swimming lessons were part of the
school education, but nowadays parents have to pay for this swim training by
themselves. And bring their kids to the swimming pool twice per week in their
own spare time. And while the children puddle in the pool for an hour or so,
the parents are doomed to wait elsewhere; away from their children, so that
they can’t distract their little darlings during the swimming lessons. JOEP
DERKSEN reports.
In 1892 the
first ever swimming diploma was handed out. The most commonly used swimming
program nowadays is the ‘Zwem (swim) A-B-C’ method, which was introduced in
1984 by the National Platform of Swimming pools. First, children learn the
basic swimming training (diploma A) and then their swimming skills are improved
(diplomas B and C). A child (or adult, for that matter) who obtains all three
diplomas can save him or herself in virtually every circumstance in the water.
Whether it is in a subtropical paradise or in the North Sea. However, before a
child is skilled enough to be able to obtain diploma B, an average time span of
1 1/2 years has passed already. This means that as a parent of three children
you have to wait in a damp changing room two hours per week for 4 1/2 years. It
is no surprise that parents have started complaining about the amount of time
needed for children to obtain their swimming diplomas.
And this has
led to a new instruction method, introduced last year. Since 1984 the swimming
lessons are all about learning how to float on the chest and back, going in the
water and climbing out of it and looking under water. Playing is an integral
part of the swim training, because the fun factor makes the child want to learn
even more. After the child is completely ‘watervrij’ and is not afraid of the
water, it is time to educate the swimming strokes. These are the singular
backstroke, breaststroke, free stroke and backstroke. The children also learn
to dive and swim under water for distances up to 9 metres.
But last
year the Koninklijke Nederlandse Zwembond (KNZB; Royal Dutch Swimming union)
started the new swimming lesson method ‘Superspetters’. The idea of this type
of training is that children learn faster how to swim. And since they can be
taught the basic swimming skills within one school year, it also inflicts less
on the spare time of the parents.
Jan Kossen,
general director of the KNZB, says on www.knzb.nl:
“We want to support our swim clubs with providing good quality swimming
lessons. Herewith making sure that children become more swim safe. The
innovation in the swimming branch is a laborious process. That is why we
started changing the method. Since 1984 only 35% of all children obtain the A,
B and C diploma. Therefore, 65% is not fully swimming safe. Parents are (after
their child has obtained diploma B, or even diploma A, JD) often happy that the
swimming lessons are over. It takes too long and the children don’t have enough
fun in swimming. That is what we want to change.”
The
‘Superspetters’ (super splash) method teaches the children the basics of the
free stroke and the back crawl, because these two types of strokes can be learned
by the children in the easiest way. All kids wear goggles and swimming caps
when they are in the water. On www.superspetters.nl
swim teacher Robert Yallop explains why: “With these goggles and caps the children
look the same as the professional swimmers on television.”
Professional swimming coach
Jacco Verhaeren adds: “By teaching the free stroke and back crawl, the swimming
training is better connected to the locomotion of the children. There are
certain things that 5- or 6-year-old children can and can’t do.” The
‘Superspetters’ lessons also contain basic survival elements such as
orientation under water, floating and treading water. After ten months the
children receive one diploma and they then have similar swimming skills as the
children who have followed the Zwem A-B-C method.
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