By Luke Voogt
Enrolments are booming at Geelong swim schools following last year’s COVID-19 hiatus, with parents facing waiting lists for some classes.
Jump Swim Schools’ Lara and Geelong West classes are at capacity with long waiting lists for both.
“We’ve only just started getting to a backlog of enquiries,” Geelong West manager Tina Ridgeway said.
“More than ever, parents are keen to get the kids doing something after COVID.
“After such a long break kids lose those fundamental safety skills, and that’s another reason why parents are keen to get them back.”
Geelong Swimming Club is considering expanding its classes from six to seven days following “strong” enrolment, according to president Glenn Benson.
The club currently has 650 kids enrolled in its classes at Christian College, out of a maximum of 1200 and compared to 850 pre-COVID.
“But we’ve had a couple of hundred enrolments the last couple of weeks alone,” Mr Benson said.
“We’re looking at seven days a week come term two if the enrolments support that.”
The strong enrolment comes as Victoria records its worst six-month period for drownings in 16 years.
Victoria had 40 drowning deaths between July 1, 2020, and January 13, 16 higher than the 10-year average between those dates and the worst result since 2004-2005.
Mr Benson said getting kids in the pool at a young age was vital.
“When they’re in and just learning to enjoy the pool, if you can feed them the safety message, it just becomes imprinted in their minds,” he said.
