When Wyndham swim instructor Shawn Read heard the recent news that two men from Victorian had drowned while attempting to save their child in a Gold Coast pool, he knew the phone was going to ring.
“Every time something like that happens I get a call,” said Mr Read who has run Shawn’s Swim School in Hoppers Crossing for 30 years.
“It was similar in February when a family of three from India drowned on Phillip Island.”
As with the Phillip Island drownings, the two men on the Gold Coast were Indian migrants whose desperation to save a loved one overrode their inability to swim, with tragic consequences.
On both occasions Mr Read was inundated with adults from Wyndham’s large Indian diaspora, as well as other migrant communities and non-migrants as well, all wanting to learn to swim.
But with a waiting list of more than 500 adults, Shawn’s Swim School has no way of accommodating them.
Other swimming schools in Wyndham contacted by Star Weekly also reported demand for lessons far outstripping availability.
Mr Read said the issue went well beyond just one migrant community responding to tragic events.
“With the influx of people from different countries and cultures into the community, people who grew up without the opportunity for swimming lessons in their country are doing the right thing by their children and are booking them in for swimming lessons, then realising that they themselves can’t swim and in an emergency they wouldn’t be able to safely rescue their own children,” Mr Read said.
“That’s increased their awareness that they need swim lessons.”
That was the motivation for one Indian migrant Star Weekly spoke to, to try and learn to swim.
“My father in law has a pool at home and when we go there it’s always in the back of my mind,” said the father of two from Werribee who wished to remain anonymous.
“It’s a scary thought. Kids running around and something happens and you don’t know how to swim.”
Despite this, he’s so far been unable to secure swimming lessons, with long waiting lists not the only problem.
“It’s an extra expense. Things are expensive already so it adds extra,” said the man who has taken to using the public pool at AquaPulse in Hoppers Crossing in an attempt to teach himself.
Even here at Wyndham’s largest swimming centre, capacity has been reached.
“Recently, at AquaPulse, our WynSwim Swim School has reached its full capacity, accommodating over 3,600 students, including both adults and children,” said a spokesperson for AquaPulse operator, WynActive.
“While we do not maintain waiting lists, we are acutely conscious of the high demand for swimming lessons among both adults and children within the Wyndham area.”
Kingswim, a national swim school chain with a center in Manor Lakes, has recently announced an expanded adult learn to swim program to meet rising demand.
