Water Safety Learning to swim is an essential skill, it may even save your life one day - or the life of someone close to you . All New Zealanders should know how to swim regardless of their choice of aquatic recreation. Over the last 15 years, more people have drowned from non-recreational accidents, such as accidentally falling into water, than while participating in water recreation activities.
Swimming is one of the best all round exercises available.
Not only is it less stressful on bones and joints, it also involves most of the muscles in the body. Once in the pool you can go at your own pace - as slow or as fast as you want. Most pools have lanes set aside for people wanting to exercise and, if necessary, have them separated into slow, medium and fast pace lanes. It's never too late to learn to swim or to improve your swimming ability. Maybe you've been thinking for a while that you would like to learn to swim or even improve your swimming abilities - well, its never too late.