Paris 2026: Day one in every of EA Swim Safe Conference presents tales of survival, technique and requirements

Day one of many European Aquatics Swim Safe Conference provided an enormous vary of various voices and recommendation on the important thing matter of broadening the educating of swimming and lowering the variety of drownings throughout the continent.

Welcoming company to the Conference, European Aquatics President Antonio Silva mentioned:

“This is an important milestone for European Aquatics and for our Swim Safe programme.

“This is a programme that offers primarily with the questions associated to studying to swim and the prevention of drowning in Europe.

“Each yr in Europe we’ve got greater than 20,000 drownings – many involving kids between three and 14 years outdated.

“That raises our concern and we wish to create an enchancment at EA and to talk to governments about all matters associated to water.

“This is our imaginative and prescient. Not solely to deal with elite competitions, as had been are actually with these Paris 2026 Championships, but in addition to generate these modern classes and conferences about studying to swim and drowning prevention.

“In parallel we’re additionally working an Aqua Safety Kids mission which is financed by the European Union and European Commission.

“Here in Paris we’re awarding certificates to nationwide federations who’ve entered the Swim Safe programme.

“Our most important purpose is to make it obligatory for school-age kids in all European international locations to be taught to swim. We are working with a variety of stakeholders on this goal, attempting to affect at native, regional and nationwide degree to discover a manner we will push on this route.

“This is our idea. To enlarge the number of countries that have this policy in place. It is important to save our children. Swimming is not a sports skill alone, it is a life skill. This is the most important message to share with people.”

Lazreg Benelhadj, vice-president of the French Swimming Federation (FFN), mentioned: “For the FFN this security programme is a significant accountability. In France we begin at a really younger age – kids be taught to drift and to not worry water. Then they be taught to swim.

“We have a big community dedicated to this throughout the nation, however we’re all the time creating alternatives for establishing new initiatives.

“Our countries are different but our aim is the same – making people safe in the water.”

Lotos Vincenc Šparovec, a Slovenian actor and reserve army officer, provided attendees a profoundly transferring account of how, in 1993, as a 21-year-old pupil engaged on a service provider ship within the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Sierra Leone, he was washed overboard by an enormous wave with out his crewmates realising on the time.

Šparovec, a former membership swimmer, described the progress of his ideas as he got here to phrases together with his imminent dying. “No ship. No one was coming to rescue me. Then I suddenly remembered all the kilometres I had swum in the pool, all the stopwatches, the years of training. Maybe all this training had been preparing me for this moment, for the race for my life.”

After many hours he noticed within the distance that his ship had returned in quest of him. “But the ship was passing by me. I said to myself: now the race begins. And I started swimming towards it with all the strength I had.”

Eventually he took off the yellow tee shirt he was carrying and waved it within the air. He was noticed. He was rescued from a place the place, because the captain of the ship later evaluated, there was perhaps an opportunity in a 1000 of survival.

“The ship had come all the way back for me. The boatswain dived into the water to save me at the end when a big wave crashed me against the hull. I remember being calm, grateful and humble. And fully aware of how insignificant I was compared to the immense power of the ocean.”

Aisling McKeever, Head of Clubs and Education at Swim Ireland, outlined particulars of her federation’s Dive to Survive programme.

“Parents bring children to swim”, she mentioned. “They need then to swim 25 metres – one size. Does that imply they’re protected?

“Do they know anything about water safety, open water – do their parents know about safety?”

She famous the truth that 19 of the 52 European Aquatics nationwide federations had been now absolutely certificated inside the Swim Safe programme. “We’re a third of the way there so far,” she mentioned.

Fifteen of the signed-up federations had been current in Paris to obtain their certificates at a Gala Dinner which adopted the opening day of the Conference.

Certificates got to nationwide federation representatives from Georgia. Norway, Malta, Lithuania, England, Ukraine, France, Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Scotland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark and Russia.

McKeever harassed the necessity to purchase concrete knowledge with the intention to affect governments, including: “You need to be able to quote numbers.”

She highlighted how traction might be gained by utilizing alternatives akin to World Drowing Prevention Day – and by getting elite athletes on board.

She additionally identified the effectiveness of collaborations.

“When someone wins a medal everyone wants to hear about it,” she mentioned. “But when you want to deliver key information about water safety, who’s listening?”

Great outcomes can happen from placing these two parts collectively, because the Irish federation discovered after they had been capable of harness the backing of Paris 2024 800m champion Daniel Wiffen.

“Daniel was genuinely passionate on this subject, and he helped launch our national swimming safety programme. We got far more coverage than in any other initiative we have launched.”

She went on to reward efforts made by one other prime Irish swimmer, Ellen Walshe, who can be a swimming instructor. “Elite athletes can do the work for you!” she added.

There adopted showcase contributions from 4 of the federations which are actually absolutely certificated inside the Swim Safe programme.

Presenting on behalf of the Flemish Swimming Federation, Killian De Block defined how authorities authorities had agreed to measures together with the advice that kids ought to be capable to swim a minimal distance of fifty metres. But the measures had been “watered down” and the latter stipulation was judged too troublesome to implement.

“We don’t agree,” he mentioned. “But we continue to support our clubs and to follow up on advising government and public bodies.”

He additionally highlighted difficulties in standardising swimming educating, with lots of the extra established academics persevering with to work on getting kids to do breaststroke. The federation favours backstroke as being simpler, extra pure and permitting kids’s faces to be turned away from the water.

Gordon Hunter, Director of Aquatic Development at Scottish Swimming, additionally highlighted the advantages of collaboration with elite swimmers, citing the efforts over a interval of 10 yr of opponents akin to a number of Olympic and world champion Duncan Scott and Paralympic medallist Toni Shaw.

He highlighted the effectiveness of the long-term strategic partnership established with Scottish Water and in addition encapsulated the Scottish Swimming operation: “We don’t deliver it, we enable it.”

He added: “The biggest challenge is investment in people. If you haven’t got the right teachers with right skills, nothing will work.”

There had been additional contributions from Swim England’s Helen Marney and Rebecca Lowe and Terese Tijusaite on behalf of the Lithuanian federation.

De Blocke and Morganne Lambrechts then highlighted the booklet the Flemish federation has produced to assist mother and father develop their kids’s aquatic expertise.

Day one ended with MD Nick Hope interviewing Sharon van Rouwendaal of The Netherlands, the three-time Olympic open water swimming medallist, founder & CEO SvR Swim Academy and mentor for the Bavarian Swimming Federation.

After reviewing the early difficulties she had overcome in her profession she highlighted two areas the place she thought enhancements needs to be made.

Firstly she inspired the Dutch federation to not instantly “kick out” younger swimmers from its coaching programme if their efficiency ranges dipped, however to present them extra leeway earlier than making such a call given the way in which teenaged efficiency can fluctuate.

She additionally urged younger swimmers to not specialise too early on one stroke, however to maintain their choices open. “I remember being told I was not a freestyler…” she added with an ominous grin.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics