Swimming Ability of Fourth Grade Children Post Covid-19: A Comparison of School Years 2018/19 to 2020/ 21

PURPOSE: The Corona pandemic led to significant restrictions on sports and exercise opportunities for children. This affected swimming in particular. At times, children had no opportunity to take advantage of water-based exercise opportunities in their free time and in school swimming lessons. With regard to motor skills but also to safety aspects and participation opportunities of children, it is of high importance to enable children to swim. Since reliable data have often been lacking in this area, the aim of this study is to present the swimming ability of 4th grade children in Hamburg, Germany, before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: In Hamburg, Germany, N = 13 508 children in the 2018/19 school year and N = 14 479 in the 2020/21 school year were assessed after completion of school swimming lessons (18 lessons in 3rd and 4th grade). Swimming ability was defined by the achievement of the German swimming badge "Bronze" (criteria: Diving headfirst from the edge of the pool, swimming for 15 minutes and covering at least 200 meters during this time) and surveyed by the swimming teachers. Data were collected and analyzed by frequencies and percentages. RESULTS: In the pre-pandemic school year 2018/19, n = 8 669 (64.2%) children completed at least a "bronze" badge, while in the school year following the 2020/21 Corona Pandemic, n = 4 882 (33.7%) children achieved these criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the purely descriptive nature of these data, they highlight the decline in swimming ability and draw attention to the failures of schools in the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for post-pandemic action. With regard to the WHO's call for urban and political promotion of physical activity, school swimming lessons in particular can make a significant contribution to improving physical activity and safe movement in the water, as lessons are offered here to children regardless of their personal environment and socioeconomic status.