Cairns coach concerned by decline in children’s swimming abilities

TIME-poor parents and packed after-school activity schedules are contributing to the declining swimming abilities of Queensland kids, according to one of Cairns’ most experienced coaches.

Veteran Cairns swim coach Janet Evans has backed SOS but thinks kids should be getting in the water from 5-6 months old. Janet is pictured with Dexter Britt-Pearson, Xander Goan, Loata Patterson, Jasmine Nielsen and Luke Britt-Pearson. PICTURE: JUSTIN BRIERTY

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TIME-poor parents and packed after-school activity schedules are contributing to the declining swimming abilities of Queensland kids, according to one of Cairns’ most experienced coaches.

Janet Evans has been teaching local children to swim for more than 40 years and said she believes they should be getting regular water exposure from as young as five or six months old.

She said she supported a campaign being spearheaded by the Cairns Post and other News Queensland publications to make swimming lessons compulsory for primary school students.

The S.O. S — Save our Schoolkids — campaign would include students having to meet a set benchmark — including swimming 50m, treading water for two minutes and recognising potential dangers.

But she said if introduced, it must be done properly.

“I’ve taught schoolchildren for years and it’s very obvious once you get past about Year 3 ... probably out of 100 kids you’d be lucky to get 20 who could swim 100 metres,” she said.

“It’s just getting worse because kids don’t just do one thing.

“It should be compulsory. We need to be making it part of education, not just extra-curricular.”

Veteran Cairns swim coach Janet Evans has backed SOS but thinks kids should be getting in the water from 5-6 months old. Janet is pictured with Casey Schuberg, Natalie Mase, Aria Eldred and Zoe Rokstad PICTURE: JUSTIN BRIERTY

Mrs Evans, who is the mother of Queensland State of Origin player Nate Myles, said rolling out a compulsory program would take time with multiple issues such as transport for those schools without pools, liability costs and adequate staffing.

She said many parents complained about the cost of lessons, but they needed to get their priorities right.

“This is my passion, my livelihood,” she said.

“It’s not a making money thing for me, I genuinely care about kids learning to swim.

“We’ve got to make sure this isn’t about making money.”

She said she ran a “tight ship” at her Manoora-based swimming school where children are taught the do’s and don’t’s of water safety and learn to have a “healthy respect” for the water, while parents were also educated.

Originally published as Cairns coach concerned by decline in children’s swimming abilities