A growing number of Bundaberg adults are taking the plunge and building their confidence.
With Summer on our doorstep, older residents are being encouraged to hit the pool for swimming lessons.
According to the National Drowning Report, almost 90 per cent of drowning deaths in Australia during the 2021-2022 financial year were adults.
94 of the deaths were people over the age of 65.
Owner of DNA Aquatics Donna Keech says learning to swim later in life is just as important as getting lessons as a child.
“As adults it’s even scarier for us to learn a new skill so I think getting comfortable in the water and once you’re comfortable in the water then we throw around when we’re going to learn a skill,” she says.
“You become so consumed with the fact that you have to learn and I always try and present it in a way rather than it being a structured lesson how about we just start with getting comfortable in the water?”
Adult swim classes are gaining popularity with instructors recently undertaking a new course specifically designed for teaching older people.
Ms Keech says many are taking up lessons later in life to familiarise themselves with local waterways.
“People go ok I’ve relocated, even from somewhere like New South Wales or Victoria, and they go ok I want to enjoy the lifestyle now that I’ve done the sea change and they go actually I’m really not that comfortable in the water.”
