Calgary pools turn tide on swimming lessons, lifeguard shortage

Public pools around Calgary are no longer treading water, after years of staffing shortages forced cuts to swimming lessons and operating hours.

Coming out of the pandemic, swimming lessons filled up almost immediately — leaving some parents to stick it out on long waitlists, according to the Calgary Outdoor Swimming Pools Association.

But heading into another busy summer season, lessons are still available at all eight city-owned pools managed by the association.

"Our lessons at most pools have about a 70 to 80 per cent fill rate," said executive director Riley Harper. "We still have lots of spots available."

Harper credits better staffing for the improved access to swimming lessons, after the pandemic shutdowns drove away the young workers the industry relies on.

"Outdoor pools, we were hit fairly hard because, you know, we do have a short season and a lot of our staff are university students. A lot of our staff are high school students."

Without any summer job stability, lifeguards and swimming instructors moved on with their careers. Replacing them has taken years and is still a work in progress.

"It is a skilled trade," said Harper. "We don't maybe necessarily think of lifeguarding and instructing as that, but our staff, they go through training, they go through recertification. Even having the trainers was a challenge at some points."

"The recreation industry as a whole really pulled together to get Calgary back to where it is."

Lessons also still available at indoor pools

Twenty per cent of the lesson spots at Calgary's city-run indoor pools are also still available, according to Michelle Tait, leader of recreation and social programs for the City of Calgary.

"We've definitely seen [demand] even out a little bit. I think that all those kids that kind of missed getting swim lessons during the pandemic have gotten in and they're slowly moving up," said Tait.

"At the beginning, a lot of it was not enough staff. Where now, we've been able to recruit a lot of our workforce to offer more swim lessons."

Tait said staffing is "looking great" compared to the previous few years, but added the city is still actively hiring swimming instructors.

"Also during the pandemic, no one could take a course to become a lifeguard or a swim instructor. So the demand for those [courses] continues to be quite high and we do see a lot of waitlists," she said.

Calgary pools changing hours, programming

Staffing shortages also led the City of Calgary to reduce hours at some of its 13 indoor pools.

But with more workers now on board, starting next week, the Foothills Aquatic Centre and Shouldice Aquatic Centre will resume operating five days per week for the first time since 2020.

Changes are also on the way at the Forest Lawn Outdoor Pool.

Vecova, a local charity that supports people with disabilities, closed its warm water pool in northwest Calgary on Friday. The facility was used for adapted, sensory-aware swim lessons.

To fill the gap, the Calgary Outdoor Swimming Pools Association has agreed to shift some of those lessons to its heated pool in Forest Lawn.

"It's easy to get to, and it's in an area of the city where we're able to, I think, reach the most people without impacting a number of other programs," said Harper, adding the pool can also accommodate ramps and other accessibility infrastructure more readily than the other outdoor pools.

"We want to step up and lean into that community and demographic and provide lessons."