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For the All Saints’ Day holidays, the Secours populaire française is renewing the operation “Like a fish in the water” to help 800 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to learn to swim.
If the time is for collecting dead leaves and swimming in the sea is no longer in season in France, the swimming pools remain open.
During one week, for the operation “Like a fish in water”, on the occasion of the All Saints holidays, eight hundred children will learn to swim thanks to the French Secours populaire in 80 establishments spread over the territory; an operation carried out in partnership with the Récréa group, which is responsible for around 100 leisure and sports facilities in France.
1,119 accidental drownings last summer
Each year in France, tragedies follow one another. Between June 1 and August 31, 2021, Public Health France recorded 1,119 accidental drownings. Among children under 15, drowning is the leading cause of death by accident in everyday life.
According to a survey carried out by the French Swimming Federation (FFN), one in two children cannot swim when they enter sixth grade. With the closure of establishments during successive lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the statistics should not improve.
« When I was offered to be the sponsor of this event, I immediately accepted. My dad couldn’t swim and my whole family was scared when I went in the water », Testifies Elodie Clouvel, Olympic vice-champion of modern pentathlon during the Olympic Games of Rio in 2026.« It is a great initiative for these children who come from disadvantaged families and who have not had the opportunity to go to the swimming pool with the school. She adds.
Learn at your own pace
Next to the triple champion of France, the budding swimmers dive to the bottom of the pool to collect colored rings, just to learn to put their heads under water, without apprehension, and while playing.
« I feel more comfortable, I am no longer afraid », Says Amelle, without buoy, cap on the head and transparent glasses on the eyes to avoid the irritation of chlorine. After his first “splash” of the morning, Mamoudou now wants to come every week with his friends! If some people drink a little cup, it is for a good cause.
« For a long time, it was thought that knowing how to swim meant doing 25 meters with a movement qualified as academic, such as the breaststroke or the crawl. Today, specialists agree that this is not the goal », Explains François Mouilleron, development director at Récréa. ” Knowing how to swim means being comfortable in the water to save yourself from a dangerous situation when you are alone. To achieve this aquatic ease, the child will have to learn at his own pace, depending on his age and his experience. Through the game, he will learn the twelve or thirteen skills that make him really know how to swim without being afraid. “, Advances François Mouilleron. Line up the water lines for an hour, that will be for later.
Anticipating the various aquatic dangers and developing self-confidence, this is the program for this fall week. Next summer, some will have the opportunity to use this learning. Because learning to swim is like learning to walk, it can’t be forgotten.
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