Swimming for All: Building Community & Skill at the Pool

Swimming at Aiglon has grown from a small group to a thriving community. Students of all abilities now come together to share a passion for the water.

When Lily, a Year 12 student and former competitive swimmer, first arrived at Aiglon College from China, she had been used to practicing her sport almost every day. At the time, Covid restrictions made it difficult to keep to that strict schedule, but as soon as the pool reopened, she was back in there, training with a local coach. She didn’t see many other students. “A lot of students would complain, oh, the water is quite cold,” she remembers.

Fast forward a few years, and the atmosphere at Les Bains de Villars — which were renovated in 2017, and offer unparalleled views across the Vaud Alps — is positively buzzing. The turnaround is a classic Aiglon example of how student passion and initiative, when combined with support from teachers, can lead to incredible things. 

It all began with a conversation Sophie Morley, IB sports science and physical education (PE) teacher, had when she first joined Aiglon two years ago. “I remember exactly when it all started: my head of department had asked me to go to an activity called senior sport at the swimming pool,” recalls Ms Morley. It was here that she met and got talking to the small group of students who had chosen swimming as their sporting option. 

There was a real mix of abilities. “There were ex-competitive swimmers alongside people who were close to beginner level,” she says. But what united them all was their love of swimming — and their desire to make it available to more students. “They were really keen to help grow swimming and help others learn,” she says. “And that was the spark.”

In the weeks and months that followed, Ms Morley connected with her colleague Abi Coulson, a learning support teacher who was at the time running a small number of swimming sessions. “It was limited as to how many people I could take, especially with the mix of abilities,” she remembers. But both Ms Morley and Mrs Coulson were sure the demand was there. That inkling was confirmed when they surveyed the entire school.

“The response was overwhelming,” Ms Morley says. “We found huge demand, not just for competitive swimming, for some of our races, but also recreational swimming, just the ability to go to the swimming pool, which is a 10-minute walk from the school, and use it in a semi-structured way, or a structured way where they wanted to learn to swim.”

That was the confirmation the two teachers needed to start putting in place what today is a comprehensive swimming offering: four days a week, students of all abilities can take part in organised activities ranging from lessons for complete beginners to squad trainings focused on helping the best athletes improve their times for competitions. “We had all sorts of voices speaking out through this data, and from there, it was just a case of organising the logistics and getting some support on board so that it could be more than just me and Abi trying desperately to get kids to the pool,” says Ms Morley. In addition to this programme of activities, students from Year 3 to Year 8 also take part in swimming as part of their formal curriculum. 

For the close-to 50 students who have been involved this year so far, it has been a wonderful addition to their already packed weeks. “I can go on a Friday and it helps me calm down from the stress of the week,” explains Rodgers, a Year 13 student who was among the group of students who helped establish the swimming offerings. As well as being a means of relaxing, he’s also found it challenges him, in more ways than one. “I can challenge myself physically by working on things like improving my breathing technique, but then I can also help those who are not as advanced swimmers as I am, so that’s teaching me how to interact with my peers in a different way,” he says.

That joy of teaching other students is something that Lily, who has had to stop swimming competitively because of a knee injury, has also found through the programme. “It’s been amazing to watch the younger children I’ve been helping coach progress,” she says. “It’s only been nine weeks and they’re already racing.” More than anything, she appreciates how the new offerings have helped democratize a sport she loves and allowed others to reap what she knows are its many benefits. “I don’t compete now, but I still swim at least twice a week just to refresh my mind,” she points out. Now, the empty swimming pool from when she first arrived in Aiglon is a thing of the past. “I think it’s the same for a lot of my classmates: they’ve discovered that when you need some relief, or a space where you can bond with your friends, swimming can offer that.”