Free Swimming Lessons and Initiative - News - LIVING SPORT

Free Swimming Lessons and Initiative

The ASA is playing a key role in helping to shape the government’s Free Swimming initiative so swimming becomes a key activity in getting the country off their sofas and more active.

The ASA will work with Local Authorities and Pool Operators to ensure that the Free Swimming initiative will drive up attendances at pools and lead to more people swimming more often and having more fun.

The ASA, working in partnership with Sport England and the five government departments, has also put in place a network of County Swimming Coordinators who will be working at a county level with pool operators. The County Swimming Coordinator for Cambridgeshire is Collette Railton.

In Cambridgeshire, all councils are offering free swimming for either senior citizens or senior citizens and 16 and under, with many more also providing it for young people. To find out if your local authority is offering free swimming, follow this link.

The government is also funding a scheme offering free swimming lessons to 100,000 over 11s who cannot swim. Many Local Pools around Cambridgeshire are now offering Free Swimming Lessons to non/weak swimmers. In 2009, more than 206,000 adults had swimming lessons.

To find out which pools around Cambridgeshire are offering Free Swimming Lessons, please contact Collette on collette.railton@swimming.org.

Free Swimming Lesson – FAQ

How many lessons can I have?

You will have a free course of 6 lessons each lasting an hour. Not necessarily an hour, it can be run as 12x30mins, 8x 45mins, depends what the centre wants to offer

Who will I be in a class with?

You will be in a class with no more than 12 people with a similar skill level to your own, and an experienced, and qualified swimming teacher.

Will there be any cost to me at all?

You will not have to pay for the free course of lessons at all – you will just need to get yourself for the swimming pool, with a swimming costume and a towel.

What happens if I can’t swim after my first 6 lessons?

The scheme offers you six hours of free teaching. Different people progress at different rates so some people might be very confident in the water by the end of the course, and others might still feel they need a little bit of help. Your swimming teacher, and the staff at your pool will be able to advise you what you can do next, perhaps join an activity class like aqua-aerobics, take some more lessons or use a programme like Swimfit.

What is a ‘non swimmer’?

A non swimmer is someone who is unable to swim, somebody that has been able to swim in the past and lacks confidence to swim now or someone who considers themselves a non swimmer.

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