Speaking on day two of the European Swim Safe Conference, Jan Pommer, chief executive officer of the German Swimming Federation (DSV) highlighted a range of challenges that are being addressed in the establishment of his country’s learn-to-swim programme.

According to DSV research, 60 per cent of 10-year-olds in Germany cannot swim safely, and 20 per cent of primary school children cannot swim at all.

Additionally of children belonging to low-income families on less than 2,500 euros a month, 50 per cent cannot swim safely. While for children from families bringing in more than 4,000 euros a month the figure is 12 per cent.

“Firstly it is an economic fact that a dentist’s child is five times more likely to swim than the child of a bus driver,” Pommer said.  “Clearly not acceptable.

“Hundreds of swimming pools have closed down in the last few years. So there is a clear need for investment into swimming pools and infrastructure.

“Apart from the issues of costs, travel issues and limited water time there are also too few qualified people. Instructors are missing.”

This year, however, the DLV has brokered a deal with the German Government which is committed to supporting the learn-to-swim programme with 5 million euros per year for four years.

“This is the first time the federal government has acknowledged  that this is a national task we are facing requiring the federal body to take responsibility,” Pommer said.

“We have signed a contract with the Government that we will receive money and make the best out of it. It’s a big responsibility. If you get it wrong you have to pay it back!

“Success will be measured by our providing proof that we have reached children from target groups. We have to measure how many people we have qualified and enabled. There must be answerability.

“We will be in scaling phase by the end of the year. And next summer or autumn we will have to go to the Government and let them know what we have done so far. And if we are lucky they will release the next 5m to continue with the project.”

Asked how the DLV managed to get the national government to agree to give them 5 million euros, Pommer replied:

“First of all not every politician was aware of what the situation was like. They are mostly my age or older. They have the fantasy that everyone in Germany can swim as was the case when I was young. So the first step was to make them understand the real situation.

“Secondly we said to them that if you invest this amount or more you can really change something. Because the problem of the infrastructure is a long-term one. Authorities tend to be reluctant to re-open swimming pools.

“We said this was something that would help them at least to address this problem at the same time as the infrastructure is being rebuilt.

“Thirdly, there’s general feeling in Germany that we used to be successful but somehow we have lost our ambition, our touch.

“And this could be a programme where we see results pretty quickly and the government could show it has done something for the broader public, for our children – for a bargain buy of 20 million euros, that everyone can see.

“Also Germany is on brink of applying for the Olympics again. And if we want to be successful in 2040 or 2044, now is the time to prepare.

“For those children that want to win the medals for Germany you have to start now. If our population can’t swim properly they won’t win those medals.”

A key element of the German plan, which works with 50m as the basic target distance for young swimmers, and one which takes up almost half the funding, is the establishment of 10 to 15 model regions where a committed individual works to link local clubs and facilities.

Asked why his generation swam and why the current generation doesn’t, Pommer cited the deterioration of infrastructure, the fact that schools didn’t implement swimming lessons even though they were compulsory, and a cultural shift whereby parents now, while wanting their children to swim, no longer see it as their responsibility.

Speaking in the first of the afternoon’s round table discussions, on the topic of policy and fund-raising for Swim Safe Europe programmes, European Aquatics President Antonio Silva described the two main approaches.

“The first way is to speak directly to governments to ask for a commitment. The cost of these programmes is really low and the benefits are huge.

“But if that doesn’t work, do it the other way round. Go to cities or regions or municipalities and engage more and more to sell them tailor-made solutions that will save children’s lives.

 “If you reach one city neighbouring cities will get jealous as they also want a solution to save lives – and they will contact you!”

In May this year EA and its partner Fluidra, global leader in pool solutions, agreed on a refurbishment programme to address more than 24,000 public pools across Europe which are considered obsolete and uneconomic.

Thorsten Muck, Commercial Pool Director at Fluidra, outlined some of the initiatives being made.

“What would the learn-to-swim progamme be without proper facilities?” he asked. “There was a big boom in 60s and 70s in pools but since then not a lot.”

He explained how Fluidra are developing myriad innovations to convert these older structures – saving huge amounts on the possible cost of building new venues.

“We can keep the original infrastructure but refurbish the base, pool deck and filtration system,” he said, adding that innovations to internal systems using live data can reduce operating costs by 15 to 20 per cent.

In Barcelona we took over five pools where running costs were 360,000 euros a year. It was a 45,000 euro investment. All are now running at under 300,000 euros a year.

He also highlighted the use within pools of Lynxight – AI cameras which observe water surface and detect unusual behaviour of swimmers that can indicate they are getting into difficulty.

“They then send a message to the smart watch of a lifeguard so he can see immediately where he needs to go,” Muck said. “So through this system we regularly save lives – whether they are young swimmers or older ones suffering from strokes or heart attacks.

“Lifeguards say it’s a big relief. They have a huge responsibility and can’t allow themselves to make a mistake. These days people get sued if they make a mistake so the balance of pay and responsibility is not proportionate for them.”

He also mentioned Hotta – smart pool heating which uses the waste heat of a pool’s data server to warm up the water, reducing costs by 20 to 40 per cent.

Meanwhile a variety of activities are being enabled through the use of temporary floors laid on pool or moveable floor levels within the pool itself.

Chen Junping, representing Lokang Sports – which in June became the EA’s first official partner dedicated specifically to sustainability, social responsibility and drowning prevention initiatives – commented: “Rescue is the last opportunity. The real challenge is how to recognise danger and act faster.”

To this end Lokang have developed a range of safety features including anti-drowing smart swimming caps which monitor heart-rate, O2 levels, posture anomalies and underwater time.

They also have aerial tracking devices which can support open water swimmers encountering difficulties. “We are using this technology in China and we are looking for long-term partnerships with federations in Europe,” she added.

Balasz Magyar is senior director of account management for EPAM. the global leader in digital engineering, cloud and AI-enabled transformation services which began a commercial partnership with EA in June last year.

He called upon attending federation members to dream about new levels of digital transformation which he believes will very soon be possible.

“I challenge our community to aim way higher than we do today.”

One key improvement he promoted was for those focusing on special activities and data “in silos” to go on a collective journey, connecting with each other.

“This is where we can lift solutions and safety to the next level,” he said.

Alexa Strommer explained the principles involved in teaching pre-school children under six at her Swim Swift academy which she established in Zurich in 2022 – where more than 150 children are taught to swim every week.

A former swimmer who left her career because of pressure made lack of pressure a founding principle in her new venture.

Her most common challenges are children being hesitant to put eyes or ears in the water, children having separation anxiety from their parents and children being either overly confident or overly fearful.

Mike Rowbottom for European Aquatics