New project to keep you safe in the water
After the recent drowning of a young boy at a holiday resort, Review spoke to Rob Anderson who is the vice president of Limpopo Aquatics.
POLOKWANE – Anderson said that he feels sad for the boy’s family as he cannot imagine what they are going through. “My heartfelt condolences to these parents.”
Anderson has been busy with several swimming projects as well as a swimming development project where he would like to see young swimmers, especially those from rural areas, get more active within swimming pools. He told Review that Limpopo Aquatics in conjunction with the Polokwane Municipality, will run a swim training exercise where children from rural areas around the city will be brought to the public swimming pool to be taught the basics of swimming.
“The plan is to deal with about 100 children a day but the number that we would like to deal with is a bit limited due to the fact that we only have five to six trainers who are available to help out with the programme,” he said. He added that they hope that people will be more water safe and that children will learn to respect as well as understand their own capabilities in water and not be scared of water. He said the plan wants to make sure that children stay safe over the December holiday when they visit streams, dams or even rivers to cool down. He said that the biggest challenge usually comes in when people underestimate the strength of a stream.
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This usually leads to people being swept away and is also the cause of people, especially children, drowning in rural areas. He added that when it comes to safety, even with the professional swimming competitions where he has been involved in, there has always been a lifeguard on duty. This is one of the main priorities which people need to look out for when planning any swimming event whether it is at a public pool or at a resort. “Accidents happen so fast. It might be a cramp or something else, you never know what might happen. The best thing will always be prevention, so to have a lifeguard on duty will help deal with these issues should they arise,” he concluded.
Christine Mbite, a local swimmer who has been chosen to join a swimming team which will represent South Africa in the near future, said that she wants to see more and more children swim not just because it is fun but because it will help them be water wise and safe from drowning.
