Learning To Swim

Southland Times, Issue 23375, 6 December 1937, Page 4

Learning To Swim

Today sees the opening of “Learn to Swim” week throughout New Zealand. Arrangements have been made in Invercargill for special sessions at the Municipal Baths, planned in such a way that there should be a suitable time for almost every nonswimmer to have his turn in the water. It is not to be expected, of course, that twenty minutes in a swimming pool will convert a learner into a swimmer; but an expert instructor can do a great deal in a short time to give the tyro his necessary confidence; and once the first awkwardness has been overcome it is to be hoped that most persons will want to carry the adventure a little further. That there is need for a campaign of this kind is not to be denied by anyone who can understand the plain meanings of figures. According to information placed before the Minister of Internal Affairs by swimming, surfing and life-saving bodies, only 12 per cent, of children leaving the primary schools are at present certified as proficient swimmers, and only 27 per cent, are able to cover a distance of 25 yards. This is a lamentable state of affairs among people who live in an island country and in a climate which tempts them down to some of the best beaches in the world for about six months in the year. The present movement is a practical attempt to increase the number of swimmers. In a little while, perhaps, swimming tuition in schools will be compulsory, except where exemption is desirable for health reasons. But there are many adults who will never have the early training that is likely to come to the younger generations; and these older people should make the fullest use of their present opportunity. Once they have conquered their first diffidence they will find that they have been introduced to new values in health, exercise and general well-being.