Cape Girardeau and Jackson have comprehensive swimming programs during the summer. Cape Girardeau has the advantage of running its swimming program eight months a year.
Cape Girardeau's recreation coordinator for aquatics Doug Gannon says the city has swimming programs tailored for all ages.
Generally in the fall, the participation wanes, he says. Then, after Jan. 1, participation picks up at the Cape Central Pool.
During the fall and spring the city runs its Learn-to-Swim lessons, including the water babies and toddler classes.
Adult aquatic fitness classes and the noon lunch-break swim are year-round activities at the pool.
Gannon says that during the fall people have other activities, including many outdoor activities.
Fall swimming classes will begin around Oct. 1.
During the winter and spring, the pool becomes more active, with some of the water safety and lifeguard courses offered in February.
Stacy Busch of the Red Cross teaches many of the water safety courses for the city.
Children can get their lifeguard training at age 15; they can get their water safety instructor's training at age 17.
Lifeguards must complete a 36-hour course; the water safety instructor's course is 30 hours and allows people to teach the Learn-to-Swim classes.
Busch, who began swimming at age 5 at the Capaha Pool, worked as a cashier at the pool before asking if she could help teach the swimming classes.
After that, she took the class to become a water safety instructor.
There are two water safety instructor classes a year, Busch says -- one in February and one in May.
The February class, which she taught, had nine students, including Meredith Jackson who taught the city's summer infant Learn-to-Swim classes. There were 11 students in the May class.
Most students in the water safety instructor's classes are hired by the city for the summer programs, Busch says.
Typically in the spring, Gannon says, the city offers numerous water safety programs. There are lifeguard training, water safety instructor, lifeguard training instructor, and others.
These classes mostly start in February and fill up rapidly. They are offered again in the spring.
Usually the programs train about 100 lifeguards a year at the pool.
The lifeguard classes are usually on weekends and have between 10 and 20 students in them, Gannon says.
During the winter months, the water safety classes draw from the region -- from Caruthersville to Perryville and from Southern Illinois.
There are water-safety-instructor aide classes for those too young for the instructor's class.
The city hires about 50 lifeguards during the summer and 30 lifeguards during the fall and winter, Gannon says.
There are 20 instructors to teach the summer swimming lessons.
Typically, he says, people with water safety instructor certificates also have their lifeguard certificates.
At Jackson all the classes are taught in the summer.
Assistant pool manager Nathan Huck received his lifeguard's and water safety instructor's certificates through the Red Cross programs.
He and Brett Blackman, assistant manager of programs director, train all the city's lifeguards.
They make the people with lifeguard qualifications go through the city's training program before lifeguarding at the Jackson pool.
Huck says Jackson's lifeguard training stresses physical fitness and readies the lifeguards to teach the Learn-to-Swim classes.
Blackman says the city's Learn-to-Swim program's enrollment is up 53 percent since he started six years ago. His staff has grown from 15 people to 25.
Jackson's summer swimming program begins the first week in June and lasts into August.
Besides the Learn-to-Swim program, Jackson offers classes in water safety, water rescue and a pre-lifeguard class called Guard Smart.
There are also adult lessons and a water fitness class two nights a week.
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