Throughout the month of July, the Olympic Center of Villiers-le-Bel organizes aquatic ease courses for children and teenagers. The objective: to introduce young people from Valdois to swimming.
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From this Friday and throughout the month of July, the children and teenagers of Villiers-le-Bel will be able to dive into the deep end. The Olympic center of the city of Val d’Oise organizes these summer holidays “aquatic ease” courses and swimming lessons. Open to children aged between 4 and 12, this initiation aims to introduce young Valdois residents to swimming. The COVB also aims to “promote swimming in the department“, explains its technical manager Alexandre Zaitzeff. “We offer both an aquatic ease course for the little ones, but also a ‘I’m learning to swim’ course for complete beginners”he says. This learning to swim is done through a program of ten sessions, all free.
“We ask 15 euros for license and insurance“, he says. The sessions are organized by age groups and adapted to the level of each. “We try to have one educator for every five children so that everyone can progress. For the little ones from 4 to 6 years old, it is a question of returning to the edge over a short distance. The older ones work on basic notions that they can reuse in the school setting. We teach them how to position themselves correctly in the water and make them work on aquatic breathing“, specifies the administrative manager.
The idea of these courses comes from an observation by the Olympic Center team. Following the publication of a survey on drownings by Santé Publique France in 2018, the State has commissioned many swimming pools throughout France to organize swimming lessons during the holiday period. “Within the club, we became aware of the extent of the problem and realized that many families did not have the culture of water“, indicates the technical director of the COVB.
“For many children, it is their first swim in the pool when they come to us, so there is first work to be done to reassure them”he continues. Whether it is through the aquatic ease sessions reserved for children aged 4 to 6 or the “I learn to swim” modules intended for older children, the idea of the club is to “give everyone the basics of swimming so they can have fun in the water“, concludes the manager.
Since the launch of the device in 2018, the number of accidental drownings has decreased by 9% according to the latest data from Public Health France dating from September 2021. The health authority also indicates that children under the age of 6 remain the age category most affected by this type of incident. Indeed, this age group is affected by 26% of accidental drownings. The development of these courses also makes it possible to attract more and more children to Valdois swimming pools during the rest of the year.
According to figures from the French Swimming Federation, Val d’Oise has 7,014 members aged between 0 and 17. These figures make it the third department with the most young licensees in the Ile-de-France region for the 2021-2022 season. Only Hauts-de-Seine and Yvelines have more young swimmers.
“We are happy to be able to transform what is for some a phobia at the beginning of the week into an attraction for aquatic activities.“, smiles Alexandre Zaitzeff. These courses are offered in six other swimming pools in Val d’Oise. Thus, learning to swim during the summer for the youngest is also available in Cergy-Pontoise, Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Franconville, Herblay-sur-Seine, Sarcelles and Saint-Leu-la-Forêt
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