Water Safety !

 Unfortunately, drowning seems to go hand in hand with our beautiful Australian summers.  We are only a handful of days into this summer and already death is occurring in both the coastal beaches and the inland river systems.

Water safety starts with the ability to swim if the unexpected happens.  We are relatively safe if we we go into the water at a popular beach patrolled by the Surf Lifesaver movement and we swim between the flags, but vast areas are unpatrolled and well within reach of the masses. The sea has many hidden dangers.  Wave sizes can vary unexpectedly, and we can experience what is called a " rip " when the water will move offshore and carry swimmers into deeper water.

Experienced beach goers know it is futile to try and swim against its strength.   These rips occur locally and the experienced swim parallel to the coast until they are out of the grip of the rip and then return safely to shore.  The inexperienced try to swim against this powerful tide, become exhausted and quickly drown.

In the earlier years of this nation, school sport included swimming lessons.  Few kids left school without becoming proficient swimmers but now the focus is on team sport and learning to swim is not high on many parents agendas.   If fact, religious dress codes in some cases prevent the use of attire suitable for swim instruction.

We are in danger of producing a vast number of people who are at risk of drowning if they ever experience an unfavourable water event.   They will be at risk if they crew a boat or have the misfortune to fall into water above their height, and to most people that happens at least once in their lifetime.  Even the people who live far inland and well away from the nearest river are subjected to unusual rain events that lead to flooding.

What we need is a national programme to ensure that every young Australian is water safe, and the obvious venue is the school system  We are not lacking in public swimming pools and this is the ideal venue to teach the ability to swim.   It would be ideal if learning to swim was a compulsory school sporting event with the ability learned at primary school age and developed further through the high school system.

Ideally, teaching the ability to swim should be part of the teacher training programme at university. A dedicated  learn to swim campaign in the summer months would have the advantage that their teachers would know the mind set of individual pupils and use this relationship to overcome any fear of the water.

Learning to swim should be an integral part of school activity.  There might be some opposition from parents from cold parts of the world where frigid water is avoided but water safety should be  part of the Australian curriculum because of the nature of the land in which we live.

No Australian kid should leave school without the ability to survive if they find themaselves above their depth in water.  That is just as important as learing the " three R's "  !