The analysis of swimming performance and knowledge about swimming and water safety in children participating in the programme for teaching swimming

Object of the research: swimming skills and knowledge about swimming and safety in the water. Aim of the research is to determine the characteristics of developing swimming skills and the degree of knowledge about safety in the water in children who participate in the programme for teaching swimming. Objectives: 1. To determine subjective self-evaluation of swimming skills in boys and girls from primary school grades. 2. To analyse the degree of schoolchildren’s knowledge about safety in the water and how to provide water rescue. 3. To determine the characteristics of developing swimming skills by applying the 18 lesson programme for teaching swimming. Conclusion: 1. 30,4 % of girls and 20,4 % of boys who took part in the survey indicated that they do not know how to swim (χ2 = 12,486; p 0,05). However, boys (16,6 %) indicated more often than girls (6,9 %) that they would jump into the water for rescue in case of an accidental drowning of their friend (p < 0,05). 3. The results of this educational experiment show that during 18 swimming lessons, all subjects became comfortable in the water, learnt to put their head under water and perform exhaling exercises. In the 14th lesson, 90,48% of schoolchildren were able to swim 25 meters on their back with leg movements and isolated arm movements. After the completion of swimming lessons, 47,62 % of schoolchildren were able to swim 25 meters on their back uninterruptedly with fully synchronised arm and leg movements; 14,29 % of them were able to swim independently 25 meters front crawl and 4,76 % of them were able to swim the same distance breaststroke