Questions about swimming lessons

The recommended age for starting swimming lessons for the A diploma is four to five years old. But the sooner a child gets used to water, the better. After all, most children who drown are between zero and four years old, according to the National Swimming Safety Board. That is why the Geusseltbad offers parent-child swimming lessons at different levels for children from 3 months old. In these lessons children become familiar with the water, which is an excellent preparation for the regular swimming lessons.

You can register your child for A swimming lessons via this link. You must first create an account ("register as a new user"). Then click on the type of swimming lesson (1 or 2x per week) and the day of your preference. Do you not have a preference for a specific day? Then choose the general waiting list. The more flexible you can be, the faster your child can usually start.

For B or C swimming lessons you can register for the waiting list. The level at which your child can start / enter is determined on the basis of pre-swimming.

Every month, 20 to 30 children from the various lesson groups obtain their A diploma in the Geusseltbad. As soon as space becomes available in the lesson group of your choice, you will receive a call by e-mail or telephone. You must confirm this as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. How long you have to wait for this call depends on the popularity of the chosen lesson group, your place on the waiting list and the number of children who swim off each month in the relevant lesson group. 

It’s helpful if your child is already a bit familiar with the water. Swimming together is a great way to prepare! For example, come and enjoy family swimming. You can play, practice, and have fun in the water together. This way, your child gets used to the pool in a playful and relaxed way.

It is possible that you will receive a call for other available places, because we would like to offer you the possibility to start faster than on the day of your preference. If you are not interested in the place, you do not have to respond. You will of course remain on the waiting list of your preference.

The speed with which a child obtains his / her diplomas naturally depends on many different factors. Sometimes it takes a while for a child to feel confident in the water and one child picks up the technique more easily than another. Thanks to our EasySwim teaching method and the accompanying bathing suits, children feel safe and familiar in the water (faster) and experience playfully why they have to do something in a certain way. That fits with the logic of a child, so that the curriculum lingers better. The swimming instructor or instructor also stands with the children in the swimming pool, which ensures better support, more personal attention and a higher learning efficiency. 

The starting point for the average child to obtain diploma A is a lesson duration of a total of 48 clock hours. For diploma B there are 12 clock hours and for C another 12 clock hours.

To assess which lesson package best suits your child, it is good to know that on average, a child needs 75 weeks to pass the A-level diploma. Of course, this can vary from child to child. Some children are quicker to learn than others. The All-in package guarantees the diploma, provided that 90% of the swimming lessons are attended. With an All-in package, you know in advance what the maximum costs will be to obtain the A-diploma.

You can choose between an All-in package and 4-week lesson cards. 
Click here to view the rates.

Thanks to the EasySwim method, children learn to swim better, faster and with fun. The swimming lessons are tailored to the way young children learn and move. The lessons start directly in deep water to make the swimming experience as natural as possible and to develop a feeling for the water. During swimming lessons for diploma A, an EasySwim swimsuit is therefore compulsory.

Another important part of the EasySwim method is working in groups with individual attention for each child. The children are divided into smaller groups and work on their own level with different control charts and training materials. The teacher offers individual help to the children during practice. To be able to give the right attention and help, the teacher teaches from the water as much as possible. Also, the children swim with the same teacher and in the same group as much as possible.

At the Geusseltbad, swimming pleasure and the child come first! Do you have any questions about the EasySwim teaching method at the Geusseltbad? Please contact zwemlessen [at] maastricht.nl.

It is important that your child wear well-fitting swimwear during the swimming lesson. That is nice and hygienic. The type or brand does not matter. Because of the use of the EasySwim life jacket, we advise girls to wear a bikini or swimming trunks and not a bathing suit; for example, that is more convenient if the child has to go to the toilet. This of course no longer applies once the EasySwim life jacket is no longer used during class (at B and C).

Yes, it is possible to help your child to change clothes. The group changing rooms for swimming lessons may only be used by mothers with daughters or fathers with sons. A father with a daughter or mother with a son always need to use the small changing rooms. 

Yes, parents can watch from the stands of the competition pool and combination pool. For the last 5 minutes, parents are allowed into the swimming hall to watch.

Lesson tickets can be extended at the ticket shop. Additionally, lesson tickets can be renewed (by debit card payment only) at the information desk.

We work with a handy student tracking system, with which the instructors and the parents can keep track of the performance and progress of the class swimmers. This provides a clear picture of the level and shows what your child scores well on and what needs to be worked on. Extra practice is possible during our free practice hour on Sundays from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm (free for all swimming lesson children, parents pay the recreational rate). 

Yes, for a child who's following swimming lessons you can book free of charge via the option: ‘Gebruikers 25/50 badenkaart (geen ODS en MUMC+)’. Parents and children who do not take swimming lessons at the Geusseltbad pay the regular rate. Please present yourself at the information desk upon arrival to gain access to the pools.

With an infectious disease, sometimes a child cannot swim. Whether or not the child can attend depends on:

1. How does the child feel?
2. Is the disease contagious to other people?

1. How does the child feel?

Symptoms with which swimming is not recommended:

• fever
• vomiting
• diarrhoea
• pain

Symptoms with which a child could swim:

• mild symptoms of illness
• increased body temperature
• snottiness

Are you in doubt? Contact the information desk on info [at] maastrichtsport.nl (info[at]maastrichtsport[dot]nl) or 043 350 45 00

2. Is the disease contagious to other people?

With certain contagious diseases, the sick child should not come to the pool. This is to avoid infecting other children.

The main infectious diseases prevalent in the pool:

Head lice
Head lice are small grey bugs two to three millimetres long. They prefer to sit close to the scalp, from which they suck the blood they live on. The eggs (nits) resemble dandruff but are stuck to the hair.

Symptoms:

• Itching, especially behind the ears and on the neck.
• Visible critters and eggs (nits).

Can I go swimming?
Infection with head lice occurs very easily. It is recommended that you temporarily prevent your child from attending swimming lessons.

Middle ear infection and runny ear
Acute middle ear infection is a sudden infection of the middle ear (the space behind the eardrum). This inflammation can be caused by a variety of viruses and bacteria that also cause colds and other respiratory infections.

Symptoms:

• Severe earache
• Fever
• Listless
• As a complication of a middle ear infection, a runny ear may develop. In a runny ear, the eardrum has ruptured and pus comes out of the ear.

Can I go swimming?
A middle ear infection is usually a complication of a cold and in itself is not contagious. The fluid from a runny ear, however, is contagious. During the acute phase of middle ear infection, your child is too sick to swim due to fever and pain. In a runny ear, the eardrum is perforated, which means that water could enter the middle ear when swimming. As long as the runny ear exists and the eardrum has not healed, the child should not swim.

Shingles  (impetigo)
Shingles is a superficial infection of the skin caused by bacteria. Sometimes the infection appears in places that have been previously scratched like eczema or mosquito bites. The infection is usually on the face around the nose or mouth, under the armpit, but can also appear in other places.

Symptoms:

• At first, a blister, which bursts open and on which a honey-yellow crust forms.
• Then the spots expand, making it look like your child has a beard of currants.

Can I go swimming?
It is advisable to temporarily not let your child attend swimming lessons if the blisters have not yet dried or if your child is undergoing antibiotic treatment for more than 48 hours.

Boils
A boil is a skin infection caused by a bacterium (staphylococcus aureus). A painful red warm bump develops around the hair root. In a few days, the subcutaneous swelling may increase, a subcutaneous inflammation with a black tip develops. A considerable amount of pus may form, which drains off as a pimple opens.

Symptoms:

• Red bump with black tip

Can I go swimming?
Infection can occur after contact with the pus running from the boil. Your child can go swimming as normal if:

• the boil is not yet bursting
• the boil has dried

Chicken pox
Chickenpox is a contagious infectious disease caused by a virus. The disease lasts about seven days and heals spontaneously. After healing, one is protected from chickenpox for life. However, the virus remains in the body and can cause shingles later in life.

Symptoms:

At first, mild fever, cough and headache. After a few days, red bumps appear, on which, after six to 12 hours, blisters appear that can be very itchy. The blisters open or dry, and scabs appear and fall off after a while. Chicken pox is mainly on the trunk, face, between the hairs and in the mouth. Scratching can cause a skin infection.

Can I go swimming?
Chickenpox is contagious from a day before the appearance of blisters until all the blisters have dried. Not swimming due to risk of infection is not useful because the infection has often already taken place before the disease appears. We do not recommend swimming during the acute phase (vesicles are open). However, if all blisters have dried and the child would like to go swimming, this can be done without any problem.

Water warts
Water warts are caused by a virus. It is a benign skin condition that often occurs in infants and toddlers. Water warts usually disappear on their own within 6 to 18 months. After that, the child is immune to water warts.

Symptoms:

• They are small, pea-sized, pearly bumps. In the centre is a dent.
• They can spread from the torso to the arms and legs.

Can I go swimming?
The child may swim but should avoid contact with other children in the class.

You can coordinate with the swimming instructor if and when a chlorine glasses may be used during the lessons. Swimming goggles are not permitted during diploma swimming (except for the chest and back crawl). The reason? If your child unexpectedly ends up in the water, he / she does not wear swimming goggles and your child must be able to cope.

Are you unexpectedly unable to attend swimming lessons? Then you can simply notify the instructor here.

Different requirements apply to each diploma.

No, only with the National Swimming Diploma A, B and C is your child really prepared for life-long swimming pleasure. With the arrival of water parks with wild water slides and many new forms of recreation in, on and near the water, children need different skills than before. Children learn these other skills especially during the lessons that prepare for the swimming diploma C. Unlike before, when there were only diplomas A and B, children really need diploma C. This is the National Swimming Safety Standard.

The objective of dressed swimming is to simulate a realistic situation in which a child can end up. This ensures that children do not panic when this situation actually occurs. If you wear clothing, it sticks to the skin. A child can panic if he / she is not used to it. A child who accidentally ends up in the water, wears normal daily clothes and no swimsuits. That is why, during diploma swimming, it is tested whether a child can save itself dressed.