Who does the adapted aquatics assistant assist?

Added: 11/18/2005

You are a kind person and plus a good swimmer and you willing to try yourself at some volunteer position. Then you could help people with disabilities in adapted aquatics. To become an assistant to will need some skills and some training or instructions at least. Even if you're already a professional in aquatics you'll need to take a training program to work at adaptive programs. But probably more than anything of that you'll need a goodwill.

There is a huge range of professions and jobs in any sphere of life, and any of them exists only because there's some necessity in it's existence or in other words because someone needs it. The demand creates the proposal. Some jobs are quite popular and we hear about them almost every day, yet there are some others that are the same necessary but yet we know very few about them or probably have never heard about them at all.

The adapted aquatics assistant is probably a job of the second time. Do we know much about adopted aquatics? What is it in fact? And for whom is it adapted?

Well these are specially developed programs for people with disabilities of any kind. That can be blind people, people with autism, arthritis, those who are recovering after injuries and many other temporary or constant disabilities. These people shouldn't be deprived of their right to be physically active yet of course the aquatics should be adapted according to what they can and what they can't do. Swimming in good for their heath and fitness the same way as for anyone of us. Plus it helps to develop some skills and a sort of flexibility. This specially matters for those who are rehabbing.

So what do we need to arrange these special programs. A swimming pool at first, not too deep, with the warm water, probably provided with all necessary equipment. Than we need the participants. And we need instructors which have passed special training. And in their turn, the instructors do need their adapted aquatics assistants, well-prepared to do their job.

What's the job of an adapted aquatics assistant? Obviously, to assist the instructor. So an assistant can't be working separately at least till the moment he/she gains a certificate of instruct. But the job of an assistant requires less that a position of trainer.

You can start at the age of 14 (an instructor one can become only since 18). You need to be good at swimming. And to able to prove it. Of course it's not about a sort of a bet but about passing a swimming test of a certain level - intermediate, or the third level according to the Red Cross. Then to become an adopted aquatics assistant you should be physically well-trained person with enough straight to assist the people with disabilities. If you've got all these skills you can start your training at the program preparing these assistants.

One can try to look at it all as at a sort of a career. You start as an adopted aquatics assistant and than become an adjunct and than an instructor. But really this job seems to be more a volunteer position that starts with the will to be helpful.

In some cases there's no special training programs for volunteers - they are simply being introduced into the main rules and peculiarities and soon after that start to assist the instructors.

Yes, and if you're choosing a training program mind that rather many professionals choose the adapted aquatics assistant program not because they aren't good at aquatics but just because they haven't ever any experience working with people with disabilities.

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