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Potsdam (dpa / bb) - Because of the corona pandemic, only a few swimming lessons have been offered in Brandenburg for months.
It has not taken place at all since mid-February.
As a survey by the German Press Agency showed, this not only increases the losses of swimming pool operators, but also the fear that the number of non-swimmers will increase.
"The increasing numbers of non-swimmers are causing us great concern," said the managing director of the State Swimming Association (LSV), Maren Nagel.
"There are many children who had not yet completed their swimming training in the 2019/20 school year when the first lockdown began in March."
Since the first Corona lockdown in spring and the second closure from November, swimming lessons in Brandenburg have only been possible very irregularly.
Nagel said that all children who were supposed to learn to swim in the current school year would not have had a chance to learn to swim through the second lockdown.
“So we will have two cohorts of children in the summer who are not safe swimmers.
That's a gigantic number of children. "
However, the association could not give any figures because there are no reliable surveys.
Negative effects are also feared among swimmers.
"Children who have just been able to learn to swim lack practice and there is a risk that they have forgotten what they have learned," said the LSV manager.
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The children and young people who swim in clubs also lack swimming training.
Because championships have failed, it is very difficult for the older athletes to maintain motivation.
"In addition, there is also a lack of social contact with one another," said Nagel.
They are immensely important for club life and for the development of children and young people.
The Potsdam Ministry of Education does not anticipate any long-term negative effects.
"How the swimming training, especially learning to swim, can be made up is currently being coordinated with the state school authorities," said Ministry spokeswoman Antje Grabley.
After the pandemic-related restrictions have ended, the aim of the state's educational policy remains to offer all students high-quality school swimming opportunities in accordance with the framework curricula.
Above all, this assumes that private and municipal swimming pool operators can continue to operate after the lockdown.
"Here we have bad premonitions that this will not be the case everywhere," said Nagel.
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Indeed, the crisis is affecting many operators.
"The corona pandemic is hitting municipal pool operators in Brandenburg with full force," said a spokeswoman for the Association of Municipal Companies (VKU), which represents 14 municipal pool operators with 18 pools in Brandenburg.
More staff, more effort, low maximum number of visitors.
"Corona makes the financial losses of the pools significantly higher than in previous years, as the 2020 outdoor pool season showed," said the spokeswoman.
In principle, for some pool operators there is still the communal cross-association - a merger of companies - as a lever with which communal services of general interest are financed on a permanent basis.
Nevertheless, the financial situation for the municipal baths in Brandenburg remains very serious because of the corona pandemic.
"In order to secure the pool operation in the long term, the pools are definitely dependent on further help," said the spokeswoman.
The municipal bathing landscape of Potsdam is also hoping for the opening soon.
Swimming lessons have not been allowed there since mid-December 2020, as Potsdam's public utility spokesman Stefan Klotz announced.
Corona short-time working regulations currently apply to employees.
“As a municipal swimming pool company, we will apply for November and December aid,” he announced.
Municipal swimming pools are excluded from other aids such as bridging aids.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210220-99-519041 / 2