UTM swim classes teach adult learners 'vital life skill'

When Pon Sunder Rajan was growing up in India, learning to swim wasn’t a priority. Then he came to University of Toronto Mississauga as an international student and quickly realized how popular water-based recreation is in Ontario.  

Today, thanks to adult swimming lessons at UTM’s Recreation, Athletics & Wellness Centre, he has the skills not just to be safe – but to enjoy – being around any body of water. 

Whether students are brand new to swimming or have basic abilities like Rajan did, the RAWC has a class to meet them where they are – and take them where they want to be.  

“We’re responding to the needs of the populations on campus, including international students but also students who identify as Black, Indigenous and/or people of colour, who might have had limited opportunities for swimming lessons when they were young,” says Christina Seehaver, supervisor of aquatic programs at the RAWC. 

Rajan, who came to UTM in 2018 from his home city of Chennai to enroll in the master’s in industrial engineering program, gained rudimentary swimming skills in childhood.

But he never went further than that.

 “We don’t have as many lakes at home as there are in Canada, so it’s not as important for kids to learn swimming,” he says.

 “But camping and outdoor life in Canada makes it a necessity. I decided to take swimming lessons so that in the summer I could participate in a lot of water activities without being scared of the water.” 

This fall, the RAWC will offer a free Learn to Swim class for students to gain the critical skills required to save themselves if they have an unexpected fall into deep water. The class was offered in the past at the RAWC under the name Swim to Survive, based on the Lifesaving Society of Canada’s program in elementary schools.  

“To increase participation among students who have little to no experience in the water and reduce barriers, we’ve changed the name, made it a flexible drop-in program, and created dedicated women-only, BIPOC and Indigenous class times,” says Seehaver. 

The program is free, and students can drop by to try a few minutes or stay for the full hour.  

Seehaver says the Learn to Swim class is designed to be a gateway to adult swimming lessons, which are discounted for UTM students. “Some students feel like they’re not ready to even start the first level of lessons, so this is a chance to get in the pool and feel as comfortable as possible learning the essentials.” 

Rajan took the Level 2 adult swimming class, where he learned to dive and do the breaststroke. The lessons begin with a two-part Level 1 class: in Level 1A, students learn to put their faces in the water and float, while Level 1B focuses on kicking, treading water and an introduction to the front and back crawl. By the third and final level, swimmers master their strokes and complete a 300-metre workout. All classes have women-only and private lesson options.  

“Knowing how to swim is something that those of us who grew up in Canada take for granted,” says Seehaver. “It has so many physical and emotional benefits, like low-impact fitness and relaxation, but it’s also a vital life skill.” 

According to a report by the Canadian Drowning Prevention Coalition, more than 450 people in Canada die on average from drowning annually. 

Seehaver says one key part of efforts to attract students from communities where early swimming lessons aren’t the norm is increasing the diversity of swim instructors at the RAWC. The ideal, she says, would be to have some graduates of the adult swim classes go on to earn their teaching certification. “We’ve had a number of international students that have joined our team, but we’d love to have more.” 

As for Rajan, he says the swimming lessons have enriched his life in multiple ways. “Swimming is a means to relieve stress from the outer world and make me more active. And now whenever I’m around a pool or lake I feel confident, happy and included.”