Safe Healthy Aquatic Recreation for Kids (SHARKs)

SHARKs (Safe Healthy Aquatic Recreation for Kids) is an innovative and exciting swim program provided by the Guelph Y to all Grade 3 and 5 students in the city of Guelph. It is the only program of its kind and is offered to all public, private and catholic elementary school students in Guelph. Guelph Y has partnered with the Lifesaving Society, City of Guelph and University of Guelph to bring this program to 100% of Grade 3 and 5 students in Guelph, free of cost.

The SHARKs program teaches the Lifesaving Society's "Swim to Survive" curriculum of surviving a sudden and unexpected fall into deep water. With SHARKs training, the children of Guelph learn how to:

recover from a fall into the water
tread water until rescuers arrive
swim to safety

What is the impact of the SHARKs program?

Partnerships - the Guelph Y has partnered with the Lifesaving Society, City of Guelph and University of Guelph to offer this program free of charge
Inclusivity - all grade 3 and grade 5 students in Guelph (approximately 3,200 children) are bused to and from local swimming pools on three separate occasions to partake in the program
Increased ability - 2017: of the children who did not pass the Swim to Survive standard in the first lesson, 15% of these children passed the standard by the end of the program (on day 3) - a marked improvement which clearly shows the impact that the SHARKs program has on developing vital Swim to Survive skills
Increased confidence - the SHARKs program is more than just teaching Swim to Survive skills. Do we want every child to pass? Absolutely! For some of these kids, however, it is their first time touching water outside of a bathtub and so, the program also teaches water safety awareness to new swimmers, as well as gives them time to play and become comfortable in the water.

Our goal

The goal for the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph and the City of Guelph is that by 2019, we want to have 100 percent of the students graduating from Grade 8 able to achieve the Swim to Survive Standard. SHARKs is an important and vital step to reaching this goal, and the YMCA-YWCA of Guelph looks forward to ensuring the aquatic safety of the students in Guelph both now, and in the future.