Adults account for 80% of drownings across the country. In regional South Australia, pools are keen to provide swimming lessons, but there is a shortage of instructors willing to teach them. An aquatics coordinator says breaking the stigma of attending swimming lessons as an adult would improve water safety.
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00:00Swimming is part of Australian culture, but a lack of adult swimming lessons has left
00:07some people on the sidelines.
00:08Even if I go to the swimming pool, I'm there like sitting on the side or just dangling
00:13my feet in the pool or anything like that, wishing I was the person in there having fun.
00:17But if I can't touch the bottom, I'm panicking.
00:21Riverland local Julianne Hancock has had a fear of water since she was young, but watching
00:26her grandkids swim has inspired her to learn.
00:28I did look around then for a little while, but there was just nothing.
00:34Julianne isn't alone in wanting to learn how to swim as an adult, but the industry is currently
00:38experiencing an instructor shortage amplified by COVID, meaning hosting swimming lessons
00:44here in regional SA is difficult to get off the ground.
00:47Royal Life Saving SA says adult drownings are on the rise, but there's a shortage of
00:52adult swimming lessons on offer.
00:53That gap and lack of adult programs, we're just seeing that increase more and more.
00:57Mount Gambier is one of the few places in the state's regions that has adult classes.
01:01The demand's quite high.
01:02We are a bit restricted on how many classes we can run.
01:06We have to have the right qualifications with the teachers.
01:09It's a pretty nerve-wracking thing to come to swimming lessons as an adult, so the more
01:12we can put this in for our community, the better they're going to be.
01:15Keeping people safe, one stroke at a time.