CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Aside from migrants and bushies who originate from landlocked, drought stricken terrains – there is actually a population of Australians who don’t know how to swim. Like people that grew up around relatively large bodies of water who just never learnt.
Recent findings by the YMCA show that roughly 25% of Australians over the age of 15 are not confident in entering water without a boat to hold onto – or a pool ladder.
While this statistic is often presented as an class issue – research shows it’s not necessarily about being able to afford swimming lessons, with the housing commission-based Bra Boys surfing gang used as a case study into how people can learn these kinds of skills without blowing money on some old girl covered in zinc handing out foam paddle boards.
“It’s weird AF” tweeted ex-QLD Premier Campbell Newman.
“You’d think that’s something we would have tackled before we tried to introduce Korean language as a mandatory subject in our public school system”.
Champion Australian surfer Mick Fanning says as someone who grew up in the back end of the Western Suburbs of Sydney, even he was competent enough of a swimmer to become a pro-watersportsman.
“We’d hold classes down at Western Sydney Wet’n’Wild every Sunday”
“That’s where I learnt to surf as well – in the wave pool”
