Swimming can save lives: district offers courses for children

Lake or rather open-air swimming pool? Who wouldn't want to cool down in these warm temperatures? But the basic prerequisite for a relaxing dip in the cool water is swimming skills, which are unfortunately being lost more and more. The Corona pandemic exacerbated this problem. Swimming pools were closed and thus schools were only able to hold their swimming lessons to a limited extent. In order not to leave parents alone with this important issue, the sports and youth work department of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, together with the Waldeck-Frankenberg sports district, the Waldecker Bank, volunteer instructors and the local swimming pools, offers swimming courses for children and young people aged 7 to 13.

"This topic is close to all our hearts. Because swimming is not only important for social integration, health and many fun leisure activities, but it can also save lives," explained District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst. For this reason and the steadily growing need, the district has expanded the range of swimming courses even further. Thanks to a donation of 5,000 euros from the Waldecker Bank, courses can be held in Korbach, Medebach, Heringhausen and Bad Wildungen from 25 July to 5 August. Ten days later, from 15 to 26 August, four more courses will start in Korbach. "We were very happy to support the project. Especially since it is a follow-up to the district's initiatives launched in 2015 and 2016, which we supported with similar sums. We see it as immensely important that parents in particular also recognise the need and take advantage of the opportunity of swimming lessons for their children," said Udo Martin, Board Member of Waldecker Bank. A big thank you also goes to Wolfgang Wilhelm, the managing director of the Bäderbetriebsgesellschaft Korbach mbH, who opened the Korbach Goldbad earlier this year just for the swimming courses. This way he makes it possible for the children to have a swimming course at pleasant temperatures, completely independent of the weather.

While the children and young people get used to the water, they are taught by experienced swimming coaches and volunteer instructors. "The primary goal of our courses is to prevent swimming accidents and to enable the children and young people to get used to swimming," explained Uwe Steuber, Chairman of the Sportkreis. But a swimming course alone is usually not enough to fully learn how to swim. "At this point, the parents are in demand. They have to internalise and deepen what they have learned with their children," added Matthias Schäfer, head of the sports and youth work department.

Around 180 children can look forward to an instructive cool-down this summer. Whether swimming courses can take place again next year depends on swimming pool allotments as well as on staff resources. If more courses are planned, they will be announced on the district's website. Further information on the events organised by the district of Waldeck-Frankenberg can be found on the website at www.landkreis-waldeck-frankenberg.de/veranstaltungen.

Caption: (from right to left) District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst, Udo Martin, Chairman of Waldecker Bank, Julia Stracke from the Sports and Youth Work Department and Uwe Steuber, Chairman of the Waldeck-Frankenberg Sports District, visit the children at the swimming course in Korbach's Goldbad. Photo: Waldecker Bank