To all of our SwimTime families that have joined us in recent years.
There is a problem, And I believe as parents we need to take this problem seriously.
Children in Nässjö are missing out.
SwimTime in Nässjö has a waiting list that there is absolutely no way we can provide to, we have been teaching children swimming in Nässjö for 9 years now, and never have we had the opportunity to get more space to teach more children above the space provided to us on Saturday afternoons.
We have tried.
In fact, This last term we got pushed back from 1500 on Saturday afternoons to 1530, because our swim school customers interfered with the cleaning time at the empty pool. The learning pool in Nässjö, where we teach 70 children on Saturday afternoon sits empty between 0800 and 1000 on Saturday mornings. We want to rent it for a fair market rental, to provide to our waiting list, Can we….. no…
I find myself at a cross-roads. Overload the pool between 1530 and 1800 on a Saturday and provide a reduced quality service, or start pushing. Push for empty space to be made available for our children, push for looking closely at how we use our public space to provide for more children, and push for support of small business people that are just trying to make a living out of what they love.
Children in Jönköping are missing out.
In Jönköping, we taught over 240 children a week on Saturday mornings, and Sunday afternoons, we taught these children and families in a pool that would otherwise have been closed. The staff at the Norrahammar Swim Center were great, but the more children we taught, the more problems we had with powers that control the swimming pool. We felt so unwelcome there, that after the pool re-opened after renovations, we never enquired about going back.
Children in Eksjö are missing out.
In Eksjö, we ran a very successful baby swimming program on Sunday mornings. 60 Babies and young children were learning this valuable life skill. When the Nannylund pool shut down, we enquired with the Eksjö Kommun about moving the baby classes to the Eksjö Council run facility which Was closed on Sunday mornings. We were Denied.
There is a very sad truth to all of this.
Our local councils, flat out refuse to support a local business, that they believe is in competition with what they provide. The even more sad truth, is that when you look at the total provision of our council facilities, it is inexcusably low.
When we taught upwards of 200 children in Norrahammar Sport Centre, in 5 hours, when the pool was otherwise closed…. The total of children taught by the council was significantly less with unlimited access during the week.
When we teach 140 children on a Saturday afternoon in Nassjo, when the pool was otherwise closed…. The total council provision is significantly less with unlimited access during the week.
When we taught 60 children in Eksjö on a Sunday morning and wanted to move to the council owned facility on a Sunday morning, That was closed. We were denied, and they don’t even provide to babies and pre-schoolers.
There are numerous articles in the paper, and it is an on-going issue, that children do not have access to Learn to Swim and swimming literacy is at an all time low. Millions of Kronor, Tens of Millions, and in Some Cases hundreds of millions of Kroner of our tax money is spent on maintaining or building new swimming pools, This does not mean that provision will get any better.
There is space in our existing pools to provide to the population, but the system is broken. Children are at risk, and from where I am sitting, no one is willing to push the boundaries to make change.
I lost interest in Swimming in recent years, but that interest is coming back. I want our children to love the water, I want them to be safe in the water, I want us to have a system where every child has the opportunity not only to learn to swim, but also the opportunity to be the best they can be at swimming.
I don’t ask much.
1) If you appreciated our service and have positive comments, please review our Facebook page and give us a review on Google..
2) Please if you have any thoughts, comment and share these in the comments
Our waiting lists are full, so you will not be enrolled (Right now).
3) If you want your children to have swimming lessons in Jönköping, Eksjö, or Nässjö, and think you would like SwimTime to provide these, go through to our website and fill in an interest form.
Follow this link
https://swimtime.se/2023-nassjo/
I personally appreciate the time it took to read this post, and I appreciate even more the time taken to visit our website, or leave a note on google and Facebook.
My focus for the next period. Getting more children swimming more often.
Lets see how it goes.
Steve Peterson
SwimTime VD
