The lifeguards and swim instructors at the Kemptville community pool have banded together to bring water safety and fun to the community, virtually, this Summer. Kemptville pool lifeguard, Brett Scott, came up with the idea for the Swimming Buddies when they found out the pool wouldn’t be opening this Summer. With many pools and beaches being closed due to COVID-19, the Lifesaving Society is worried that drowning might be a bigger issue, with more people opting to swim in unguarded areas. Brett says the tight knit group at the Kemptville pool wanted to do their part to make sure everyone is safe in the water this year.
The Swimming Buddies now have a Facebook page where they will be posting several videos a week, from Monday to Thursday. There will be something for everyone, including workouts for competitive swimmers, instructional videos on how to swim, fun water games, and, of course, lots of water safety information.
The nine Swimming Buddies are all volunteering their time to bring this resource to the community, with many having other summer jobs. “We wanted to continue to work together to offer this,” Brett says. They also wanted to find a way to bring the Kemptville pool to the community this Summer, even if it couldn’t be open physically. To keep up with what the Swimming Buddies are doing, check out their Facebook page under Swimming Buddies NG. They would love to have people share photos of swimmers having fun in the water on the page, and are also willing to give some instruction, if participants want to send them videos over Facebook. “We’re doing this to support and stay in touch with the community!” it says on their Facebook page. “Our inbox is always open for questions or conversation.”