Swimming School Introduces Rutgers Community to Aquatics Resources
Many students, staff, and faculty members at Rutgers University—New Brunswick know that they have access to the gym facilities located on each campus. Fewer know, though, the range of resources that Recreation offers, from personalized fitness plans in the Exercise is Medicine program through regularly scheduled fitness and wellness classes, the intramural and club teams, and much more.
The Aquatics department stands out as especially useful for members of the Rutgers community who want to improve their swimming skills, as it offers a wide variety of programs aimed at various skill levels and age groups.
“Swimming is a life-saving skill,” said Jeff Zeszotarski, the assistant director of Aquatics. “In Aquatics, we have a huge range of skills in the people who want to participate in our programs. Some people want to swim laps more effectively, and others are terrified to just stand in water.”
Aquatics events and programs include youth community swim lessons, adult swim lessons, and individual events like Tower Jump, where participants leap from the 10-meter diving board, or Pool Parties, where participants hang out on an inflatable raft at the Werblin Recreation Center pool.
Over the last two years, Aquatics has also rolled out RU Swim School, a free two-hour program aimed at recruiting participants of all skills levels. The next session of Swim School will take place at Werblin Recreation Center at 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, January 30, and will be split up into two teaching sessions of forty-five minutes each, as multiple instructors will offer a range of different swimming lessons.
“Last year, we had an individual who wanted to improve his backstroke and butterfly, but we also had an attendee who was learning how to properly enter and exit the pool without a ladder,” said Rebecca Bastuga, who works as the coordinator of instruction at Aquatics. “The lessons are completely tailored to whatever each individual needs.”
In the past, Aquatics has used Swim School to introduce more members of the Rutgers community to its resources and programs. Each Swim School attendee receives a $20 credit towards other Aquatics classes and programs, and previous attendees have used their experience at Swim School to kick-start their participation in other programs.
The student Aquatics program manager, Kyra Stolarski, emphasized the leaps in skill that she had seen in adult students who continuously improved through their participation in Aquatics programs.
“It’s much more difficult to see growth with adults because they’re usually afraid of the water,” Stolarski said. “But I’ve seen adults go from fear of the water to being able to put their head underwater and swim forward, which is a huge step, because it means that they were able to overcome the fear and mental blocks that they entered the pool with.”
Moving forward, Aquatics wants to both increase participation in Swim School and ultimately expand the program through collaboration with other areas in the Division of Student Affairs.
“We want to see our participation grow, and we also want to make sure that we serve underrepresented communities,” Zeszotarski said. “We’re open to collaborating with or accommodating anyone, and the goal, as always, is to get more individuals feeling comfortable and safe in the water.”
Swim School is free for any member of the Rutgers community with a gym membership. Click here to sign up. Click here to learn more about Aquatics; you can check out our previous articles on Recreation’s fitness and wellness classes, Exercise is Medicine, Adventure Recreation, and the men’s club soccer team.
