December, 2016 | The Biggest Little Swim School

Fun Swimming Facts

17 Dec 2016 by admin

Did You Know?

An hour of vigorous swimming will burn up to 650 calories. It burns off more calories than walking or biking.
Swimming is a great cardiovascular exercise because you are moving against the water’s resistance, which is over ten times that of the air.
Over 50% of world-class swimmers suffer from shoulder pain.
Elephants can swim up to 20 miles a day using their trunks like a snorkel… How cool is that!
The oldest form of swimming stroke is breaststroke, we know this because ancient drawings and paintings have been found in Egypt depicting people swimming dating back to 2500 BC.
Swim Finns were invented by Benjamin Franklin
Swimming was introduced into the Olympics 1896 Men only until 1912 when finally women were included

How – What – Where

Q Where was the highest dive from a diving board performed?
A: Lazaro Schaller dived 58.8metres in Switzerland Maggia on the 4th August 2015

Q How did the Bikini get its name?
A: The bikini swimsuit was named after a U.S. nuclear testing site in the South Pacific called Bikini Atoll.

Q Where is the world’s Biggest Pool?
A: The world’s biggest pool is in the San Alfonso del Mar Resort in Chile. It is over 480 meters long and took almost 5 years to build.

Western Australians enjoy a large variety of water-based activities, whether along our pristine coastline, our inland waterways, public pools, and adventure parks and of course our very own backyard pools. However, danger lurks. While I don’t want to dampen our enthusiasm for fun there is no substitute for supervision or never swimming alone.

A child can drown in 6 cm of water. Most drowning and near-drowning incidents occur when a child falls into a pool or is left alone in the bathtub. Bathtubs, buckets, toilets, and hot tubs present drowning dangers as well. Never leave a child alone near water.

Some little-known facts about safety in these areas are:

Never leave a child alone near water. -This is important and therefore bears repeating.
Everyone in the family should learn to tread water and swim.
If you’re not a swimmer yourself, it’s a good idea to take lessons and learn how to swim
Even when lifeguards are on duty, supervise your own child.
This person should not be reading, texting, using a smart phone, or otherwise distracted.
Home pools and spars should always be fenced, gated and locked or appropriately covered when not in use.
Never run near swimming pools
Use the Slip Slop Slap Wrap Rule and drink lots of water
Learn CPR

http://www.royallifesaving.com.au/families
https://youtu.be/CL4D7Hxdlk0

Salt V Chlorine?

15 Dec 2016 by admin

Salt or chlorine – is there a difference?

Many family backyard pools are Salt Chlorinated, you may have one in your own backyard. For backyard use they are an efficient and relatively easy and safe alternative for the family. You don’t have to risk of dealing with dangerous chemicals especially in a home environment.

People may tend to think that using salt is better than chlorine, however a salt water pool isn’t better than a chlorine pool because it is a chlorine pool. A salt water pool uses a system that converts the salt into chlorine by a process called “electrolysis”. Basically the machine that operates your backyard pool converts salt into chlorine. It’s the salt turned into chlorine that keeps the pool water clean just like the chlorine you buy in liquid form.

Salt water pools can also be difficult to maintain the chlorine levels whereas a chlorine pool operates through adjustable pool equipment that maintains a steady level of chlorine continually.

Wembley uses liquid chlorine because it is easier to maintain the pH level of the pool, needs less maintenance of the plant and is less corrosive.

For a Class 2 pool like Wembley using chlorine based chemicals to treat the pool is a far better, more efficient method of keeping the water healthy and sanitary for your family.

To operate a Class 2 pool you need to a qualified Pool Operator because not only are you dealing with liquid chlorine but other chemicals in the plant room and need to be able to adjust the chemical dosing equipment to ensure the water is kept within Health Department Standards.

Here are 3 tips for Summerising your pool

Maintain your pool plant and get it inspected by a reputable company before summer kicks in. Ask as many questions as you can so you can keep informed.
Shock dose the pool, use a quality algaecide to kill any organism that may have taken up residence over winter. Then add flocculant (Aluminium Sulphate) , this binds all dead matter and then it sinks to the bottom, making it easier to vacuum.
Brush down all surfaces of the pool don’t forget the sides. and ladders You may need to backwash several times during this process.

Once your chlorine and pH levels have stabilised, your pool is ready. Jump in and Enjoy

Water Familiarisation

14 Dec 2016 by admin

Water Familiarisation Classes for infants are they a good idea?

The Biggest Little Swim School Says Yes!

Motor skill development is enhanced along with fitness.
It has been found that water familiarization lessons helps improve baby’s co-ordination by forcing baby to move bilaterally to maintain their equilibrium (vestibular stimulation) within the water and assists in balance outside of the water, because of this balance is improved both on land and in the water and the gentle exercise, relaxes and stimulates babies ‘muscles and increases appetites. You will find that most babies will eat and sleep better on swimming days. When they sleep better, so do we!
Cognitive skill development
The mental stimulation they gain within their class often sees the early acquisition of physical and social skills. See the below link for published results. “In 2008, two leaders from within the swim industry, Laurie Lawrence (leading advocate in child water safety) and Ross Gage (CEO of Swim Australia), approached Professor Robyn Jorgensen at Griffith University to conduct an independent study of the benefits for young children participating in early-years swimming”.
Click the below link to see the amazing results.
http://kidsalive.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/2013-EYS-Final-Report-30-July-13-JM.pdf
Developing Independence
In a relaxed comfortable environment children are able to develop skills such as floating, submerging jumping in and returning to the wall while gaining confidence. This moves them into classes on their own much earlier than those that have not had the chance to be involved in water familiarisation classes at an early age.

In Australia our long summers are spent with many hours in and around water, teaching safety and a respect of the water is our number one priority, to hopefully aid the decrease of drowning statistics in our country.

At ‘The Biggest Little Swim School’ we believe that water familiarisation classes are essential in our society. As the drowning rate increases it’s paramount that our children are educated from an early age about the necessity to make sound risk management decisions in any given circumstances so that safety in and around the water is established and risk taking is lessened as they get older.

Month: December 2016