As demand for swim lessons increases in Metro Vancouver, some turn to private pools
Amid high demand, Burnaby pilot project funds free swim lessons for about 60 Grade 5 students
Some parents in Metro Vancouver say they are turning to private swimming instructors amid a growing demand for lessons at public pools this spring — with one municipality looking to fill the gap by offering swim lessons through schools.
Burnaby, B.C., parent Kelly Mah has been taking her two children to private swimming classes at Pedalheads for around $50 per lesson.
"I know definitely for a lot of families, it's very hard to pay like $50 a class to get their kids learning to swim faster," she said.
But Mah says there should be a lot more publicly-funded swimming lessons for other families, as one municipality reported over 1,000 children were on a wait list last year.
As private providers go from offering lessons at public facilities to building their own pools, one Metro Vancouver community has started a pilot project to provide lessons via schools, which they say has reduced wait lists significantly.
Burnaby Coun. Daniel Tetrault had a motion passed last year to try to set up swim lessons in partnership with local schools.
Now, around 60 Grade 5 students from two schools are receiving free swimming lessons under a pilot project funded by the city.
"It's recognizing how vital and important it is to teach this life skill to all students," Tetrault said. "And that it's an equity issue and that funding it will ultimately save lives."
He says the city has approved a budget to expand the program for up to 500 students next school year.
Tetrault says he is planning to get federal funding so all Burnaby students have access to free swim classes.
"Our goal is that we want to make it so they don't have to turn to the private market," the councillor said. "That any Burnaby parent who wants their kid to have a lesson can either access it through the school program in Grade 5, or through our swim classes we have throughout the year."
Tetrault says that the city has gone to great lengths to hire lifeguards, and wait lists for swimming lessons have gotten significantly shorter, and that he hoped the Grade 5 pilot program would also help alleviate long wait lists.
Private operator opens its own pool
But other Metro Vancouver municipalities do have long wait lists. At the Port Coquitlam Community Centre, the registration rate for classes is at 97 per cent, according to the city's director of recreation.
"Right now, [we] have about 132 kids waiting on a wait list," said Glenn Mitzel on Tuesday.
"We do everything we can to increase our lessons by adding more lessons based on staff availability."
He says more than 1,000 children were on the wait list last year, and the city had introduced a "rolling registration" system — where swim lessons were opened for registration monthly — in order to increase the chances of kids getting lessons.
Pedalheads, which offers cycling and swimming lessons targeted to kids, is among a number of private swimming tutor companies in the region. In addition to offering lessons at public pools, the company will soon open its own pool in Port Coquitlam.
Founder Claudia Sjoberg says she saw an opportunity to serve communities that desperately wanted more swim classes.
"We hear from our customers a lot that it's really, really hard to get into the public pools," Sjoberg said.
She says swim lessons at public facilities usually last half an hour, but her team offers hour-long lessons.
"They have to do swim teams. They have to do lifesaving. They have to do public swims," she said of public facilities. "And so our goal with this pool, and with our other pools, is just to have an instructional pool."
Sjoberg said that there is a gap in public facilities and lessons that organizations like hers are filling.
"It's really quite an investment to do it. But there just aren't enough pools around," she said.
With files from Pinki Wong