We believe the water should be accessible to all. Thanks to a recent grant from UnLtd, we’re delighted to be able to help improve access across London (thank you UnLtd!) Led primarily led by people with disabilities, for people with disabilities, we recognise that artistic swimming isn’t accessible for many people with disabilities but the skills can open up a host of benefits in and out of the water.
Click below to find out more!
What’s the plan?
- Free 6 week 1:1 artistic swimming lessons to London-based people with disabilities and neurodiversities.
- A free group session for the volunteers of each club involved to teach basic artistic swimming skills, that they can use.
- Build our knowledge of how to deliver artistic swimming in the most inclusive way possible.
- Completely personalised sessions , teaching the right skills at the right time, with the right adaptations.
- Collecting feedback from swimmers and carers (where appropriate) to measure the impact of the programme.
Who will we be working with?
- We’ll be teaming up with London-based disability swim clubs (and clubs with disabled members) to deliver sessions during their existing pool time, guaranteeing that participants are already able to access the pools.
- Already onboard we have:
Who’s eligible?
- Anyone with a disability or neurodiversity who is part of a London-based disability swim club as a member or volunteer.
- If you’re not already part of a London disability club but want to take part use the Contact Us button at the bottom of the screen to ask if it’s possible.
What’s the long term plan?
- We know that many coaches and teachers lack experience and confidence adapting their teaching to accommodate people with disabilities. Often there is no access or adaptation available.
- We want to use the knowledge we develop here to develop CPDs and teaching qualifications that we can deliver in collaboration with the main awarding bodies in the UK: the Institute of Swimming and Swim Teachers Association, making synchro more accessible in mainstream and disabled spaces.
Who is our funder?
- “UnLtd fund, funds and supports social entrepreneurs – people with solutions to change our society for the better”
- They provide both financial and non-financial support to grant recipients, helping them to achieve their projects goals, and improve their long term sustainability.
- As recipients, we are identified as having a passion to solve a social problem, and an entrepreneurial flair to make it happen.
And how’s it going?
- In a word, fabulously!
- Swimmers, parents and volunteers have seen increases in participants’ confidence, coordination and communication skills, alongside their new synchro skills.
- A number of swimmers have asked to extend their program, and continue learning. We’re now looking to secure a long term offer that can be rolled out to more swimmers.