It didn’t take long for the City of Estevan to offer a program in the RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre.
The pool opened to the public on July 13, and swim camp sessions started happening almost right away. They have six sessions scheduled every week that are 45 minutes each.
“They are open to all who want to come and try their swim skills in a variety of beginner, intermediate and advanced (classes),” said program manager Erin Wilson.
“They are taking up a good chunk of our time because of the spacing that is required, but they are helping the speed swimming groups, the water polo groups and the synchronized swimming.”
Those kids don’t have a place to swim right now to keep their skills sharp and prepare for the upcoming season, so the city is trying to do their part to get those kids active and moving.
Due to spacing requirements, most camps are limited to six or eight swimmers. If they have a sibling, that helps because the city can add extra spots.
The young people have been excited to attend the camps.
“They can come every single week,” said Wilson. “They’re set up so they can come to one. They can skip a week and then come to four more after that. We’re excited to potentially see them.”
Strength, endurance and stroke development are a big part of the camps. A lot of the instructors are also trained in speed swimming coaching theory as well, so they’re able to assist with technique.
Each week has a different theme. The first week was Shark Week, so many of the activities were connected to sharks.
The pool has also structured a lot of its programs to help maintain physical distancing guidelines. There will still be lane swimming, aquasize and swimming lessons for the public.
“We really are focusing more on family swim and surf and swim, which just allows us to make sure that a parent is always here to assist their little one,” said Wilson.
The closure of the pool, which ran from mid-March to July 13, gave the city an opportunity to have the annual pool shutdown, which has traditionally happened in early September. It gave them a chance to complete some cleaning and maintenance work on the pool area.
“A lot of the swimming lessons that we lost out on in April are already rescheduled and planning to move forward in September,” she said.
Swimming lessons have to be done differently moving forward, and so parents will receive a call about the need for parental assistance, so parents will need to be in the water with the young swimmers to ensure that everyone is as safe as possible.
