By Meg Peters
Review Co-editor
This is one of the first summers Lake Orion schools Aquatics Director Amy Kuiper has been stunned by the lack of swimming techniques in youth campers. ?
For 17 years Kuiper has managed the swimming programs out of the Lake Orion High School pool, including weekly swim sessions for local camp programs, and typically kids were up to par.
For the past two years, and this year especially, however, Kuiper and her head lifeguards have had to restrict multiple students to the shallow end.
She is not talking little kids. She is talking kids from seven, eight or nine years old all the way up until some in their teenage years.
‘They’re just not swimming efficiently or correctly, and a lot of them are not passing the swim test,? she said.
In order to swim in the deep end and use the diving board, swimmers and campers must prove they can swim one length of the pool, or 25 yards, demonstrating rotary breathing and some form of the front arm crawl.
However, many swimmers have been swimming very vertically, instead of moving forward, are struggling with or incapable of rotary breathing, and cannot dive from a standing position.
‘It should be pretty simple,? she said. ?
Out of 100 swimmers, Kuiper is holding between 10 and 15 in the shallow end, when they should be having fun with their friends in the deep end.
‘I had a sixth/seventh grade camp in’last week. They even had goggles on and were swimming with their head out of the water. It’s phenomenal to me that they weren’t doing it (putting their heads under water.)?
By fourth or fifth grade, swimmers should be able to swim about one length of the pool utilizing rotary breathing, she said, be able to do the back stroke, dive in deep water and perform some treading of water.
According to the American Red Cross, ‘water competency? is being able to perform five basic skills: step or jump into the water over your head, return to the surface and float or tread water for one minute, turn around in a full circle and find an exit, swim 25 yards to the exit, and exit the water.
A survey conducted for the Red Cross in 2014 found that while 80 percent of Americans said they could swim, only 56 percent could perform these ‘water competency? skills.
The American Red Cross also reported that 10 people die in the U.S. daily from unintentional drowning, and more than 20 percent are children aged 14 and younger, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
‘If they aren’t swimming proficiently, they need to be in a lifejacket while in the water,? Kuiper said. ‘If they are not swimming efficiently in the pool, they will definitely be struggling in a waterfront area.?
Kuiper thinks one of the reasons some of the older students aren’t swimming as well today is a result of being more involved in other sports, such as football, soccer and basketball, and parents forgetting about swimming after the first round of lessons are over.
‘Keep them going. Keep them using the pool. Lessons are good, but even doing open swim twice a month, have them bring a friend,? she said. ‘They need to use their skills at least a couple times a month to make them comfortable.?
Lake Orion offers many programs to help build basic water skills.
The Lake Orion Swim Academy classes, hosted by Kuiper, are available for browsing at’www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us/16/Content/1860.
One good thing about the swim program, Kuiper said, is that it is run mostly by previous Lake Orion students.
‘About 90 percent of the kids working for me are Lake Orion school kids. They’re coming back, remembering how they learned to swim here, and now they’re teaching. It’s a great thing.? ?
The Village of Lake Orion is also offering swim lessons throughout the summer at Green’s Park. This may be a good option to get kids swimming in an actual lake. Find session lessons by clicking Swim Lessons 2015 Registration on the left side of the screen at the Lake Orion website,’www.lakeorion.org.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard recommends all hands on deck when it comes to water safety.
‘The two biggest things are situational awareness around the water, especially when you have kids, and having the proper equipment,? he said. ‘Kids can literally drown in inches of water. We’ve seen tragedies at a pool where there are 20 adults all around, and yet a child has drowned. You need to literally assign one person to watch the children, because it happens that fast.?