Swim coach calls for adult water safety awareness
Grim numbers around drowning deaths on Australian beaches have triggered a renewal of calls for better water education in Queensland, and veteran Gympie swim coach Liz Manthey agrees.
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One of Gympie’s most experienced swim instructors says education around water safety in oceans, creeks, rivers and dams needed to target adults.
Deep Blue Aquatics owner and coach Liz Manthey responded to comments from Surf Life Saving Australia that one in three “coastal” drowning victims in Australia in 2021-22 were men aged 20-39, and to calls from Steve Titmus, the father of Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus, for a “certificate to swim” to be completed before Australians start high school.
Mrs Manthey said there was always “room for improvement” if more government funding could be given to swim lessons.
“School swimming is a little different to our private lessons. Fortunately, Gympie is pretty good in that all the schools do swimming lessons.
“Once kids get to high school they tend to stop swimming; by then they go on to other sports.
“By the time you’re 19, you haven’t got the same skills if you haven’t been doing it regularly.
“Like everything else you do, if you don’t do it enough, you’ll lose the skill,” Mrs Manthey said.
Surf Life Saving Australia released data in January revealing coastal and ocean deaths in 2021-22 reached the highest number on record of 141.
Royal Life Saving Society Australia chief executive Justin Scarr, speaking to the Courier Mail, said there had been a significant number of drownings across Christmas and New Year outside of the swimming pool, such as rivers, lakes and dams.
Mrs Manthey said her swim school provided a water safety week for education on swimming in creeks and dams, but the responsibility fell on parents to teach children water awareness, particularly on farms with dams and other natural waterways.
“I can‘t take kids down to the local creek and do swimming lessons in the creek. We do what we can do as far as educating them within the swimming pool about the dangers in other areas.”
Education Minister Grace Grace said on Tuesday Queensland’s compulsory state primary school program was aligned to the National Swimming and Water Safety Framework.
“The program includes classroom based theory as well as practical lessons in water aligned with the National Swimming and Water Safety Framework,” she said.
The National Swimming and Water Safety Framework aimed to get 50 per cent of all Australians at the age of 17 years to “understand behaviour that affect personal safety in aquatic environments and activities.”
The Education Minister’s office confirmed the program covers all elements of water safety and schools will tailor it to local circumstances, e.g. if they’re near a river instead of a beach.
It’s not just children who need to understand water safety, it’s also adults.
“You’ve got to educate people in that age group. If you are going to the beach you have to surf between the flags,” Mrs Manthey said.
“Which isn’t easy when there are thousands of people on the beach and you can’t just fit them all between the flags.”
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