Day one of the European Aquatics Swim Safe Conference offered a huge range of different voices and advice on the key topic of broadening the teaching of swimming and reducing the number of drownings across the continent.
Welcoming guests to the Conference, European Aquatics President Antonio Silva said:
“This is a very important milestone for European Aquatics and for our Swim Safe programme.
“This is a programme that deals primarily with the questions related to learning to swim and the prevention of drowning in Europe.
“Each year in Europe we have more than 20,000 drownings – many involving children between three and 14 years old.
“That raises our concern and we want to create an improvement at EA and to speak to governments about all topics related to water.
“This is our vision. Not only to handle elite competitions, as were are now with these Paris 2026 Championships, but also to generate these innovative sessions and conferences about learning to swim and drowning prevention.
“In parallel we are also running an Aqua Safety Kids project which is financed by the European Union and European Commission.
“Here in Paris we are awarding certificates to national federations who have entered the Swim Safe programme.
“Our main goal is to make it mandatory for school-age children in all European countries to learn to swim. We are working with a lot of stakeholders on this target, trying to influence at local, regional and national level to find a way we can push in this direction.
“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), said: “For the FFN this safety programme is a major responsibility. In France we start at a very young age – children learn to float and not to fear water. Then they learn to swim.
“We have a large network devoted to this across the country, but we are always creating opportunities for establishing new projects.
“Our countries are different but our aim is the same – making people safe in the water.”
Lotos Vincenc Šparovec, a Slovenian actor and reserve military officer, offered attendees a profoundly moving account of how, in 1993, as a 21-year-old student working on a merchant ship in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Sierra Leone, he was washed overboard by a huge wave without his crewmates realising at the time.
Šparovec, a former club swimmer, described the progress of his thoughts as he came to terms with his imminent death. “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 saw in the distance that his ship had returned in search 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 wearing and waved it in the air. He was spotted. He was rescued from a position where, as the captain of the ship later evaluated, there was maybe a chance 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 details of her federation’s Dive to Survive programme.
“Parents bring children to swim”, she said. “They want then to swim 25 metres – one length. Does that mean they are safe?
“Do they know anything about water safety, open water – do their parents know about safety?”
She noted the fact that 19 of the 52 European Aquatics national federations were now fully certificated within the Swim Safe programme. “We’re a third of the way there so far,” she said.
Fifteen of the signed-up federations were present in Paris to receive their certificates at a Gala Dinner which followed the opening day of the Conference.
Certificates were given to national federation representatives from Georgia. Norway, Malta, Lithuania, England, Ukraine, France, Ireland, Slovenia, Estonia, Scotland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark and Russia.
McKeever stressed the need to acquire concrete data in order to influence governments, adding: “You need to be able to quote numbers.”
She highlighted how traction could be gained by using opportunities such as World Drowing Prevention Day – and by getting elite athletes on board.
She also pointed out the effectiveness of collaborations.
“When someone wins a medal everyone wants to hear about it,” she said. “But when you want to deliver key information about water safety, who’s listening?”
Great results can occur from putting these two elements together, as the Irish federation found when they were able to 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 praise efforts made by another top Irish swimmer, Ellen Walshe, who is also a swimming teacher. “Elite athletes can do the work for you!” she added.
There followed showcase contributions from four of the federations which are now fully certificated within the Swim Safe programme.
Presenting on behalf of the Flemish Swimming Federation, Killian De Block explained how government authorities had agreed to measures including the recommendation that children should be able to swim a minimum distance of 50 metres. But the measures were “watered down” and the latter stipulation was judged too difficult to implement.
“We don’t agree,” he said. “But we continue to support our clubs and to follow up on advising government and public bodies.”
He also highlighted difficulties in standardising swimming teaching, with many of the more established teachers continuing to work on getting children to do breaststroke. The federation favours backstroke as being easier, more natural and allowing children’s faces to be turned away from the water.
Gordon Hunter, Director of Aquatic Development at Scottish Swimming, also highlighted the benefits of collaboration with elite swimmers, citing the efforts over a period of 10 year of competitors such as multiple 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 also 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 were further 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 help parents develop their children’s aquatic skills.
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 career she highlighted two areas where she thought improvements should be made.
Firstly she encouraged the Dutch federation not to immediately “kick out” young swimmers from its training programme if their performance levels dipped, but to give them more leeway before making such a decision given the way teenaged performance can fluctuate.
She also urged young swimmers not to specialise too early on one stroke, but to keep their options open. “I remember being told I was not a freestyler…” she added with an ominous grin.
Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics
