Learning to swim is difficult for everyone, but even more so for some children.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
At Belvoir Special School, there are a host of students who would have never approached the water if not for swimming lessons fully funded by YMCA Wodonga.
On International Day of People with Disability, the 2016 YMCA Swimathon was launched to fund next year’s round of lessons.
![HEADS ABOVE WATER: YMCA health and fitness coordinator Matt Frost and Belvoir Special School students Sam Barker, 12, and Cameron Bye, 12. Picture: MARK JESSER HEADS ABOVE WATER: YMCA health and fitness coordinator Matt Frost and Belvoir Special School students Sam Barker, 12, and Cameron Bye, 12. Picture: MARK JESSER](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ellen.ebsary/c4ff2c44-e781-4cc0-b5e5-98393888e5a8.jpg/r219_0_4654_3285_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Belvoir Special School teacher Danae Stevens said without the proceeds from the Swimathon, many students would not have learned to swim.
“It makes a huge difference because a lot of the families can’t afford to have any of their kids involved in these sorts of programs,” she said.
“Half a class or more wouldn’t have been exposed to that at all because they just wouldn’t have had the access.”
Margaret Kinnell, a teacher at Belvoir for seven years, said she had witnessed students like Jy Mizzi transform, and even gone on to compete in the Paralympics.
“At the start of the year he would hang on and couldn’t put his face in the water, but after five or six lessons his face was in and he had made massive improvements,” she said.
“He loves it now.”
She said with a three to five times higher risk of drowning for disabled children, lessons were crucial to safety, but had a plethora of other benefits.
“There’s a higher risk of students with a disability to have an accident or an injury because they don’t see the consequences of running on the side of the pool and things like that,” she said.
“A lot of students have sensory issues, they feel tight in their own body, whereas swimming gives them that freedom.
“Some students that don’t walk very well have that room to move and it really does wonders for them.
“It’s not just the swimming, it’s the community access and interacting with people in the community.”
YMCA health and fitness coordinator Matt Frost hoped to raise $8000 through events and sponsorship of participants leading up to the Swimathon on Sunday February 28.
“Donations are going to start rolling in, we’re going to be holding different events not only on the day, we’re going to be holding some mega aqua classes to raise more money,” he said.
Ms Kinnell said further funds would enable Belvoir to better tailor classes to students with higher needs.
“We could do more classes for the students who need it more than others,” she said.
The Swimathon launch was one of many events coinciding with International Day of People with Disability.
The public is invited to continue celebrating the day with Border disability support groups on Friday at Hovell Tree Park in Albury from 10am to 2.30pm.