Important swimming badges in our children and youth swimming courses
The “Frühswimmer” (early swimmer badge), “Freischwimmer” (confident swimmer badge) and Fahrtenswimmer (experienced swimmmer badge), among others
You would like for your child to earn the “Freischwimmer” or the “Fahrtenschwimmer” badge?
At the Steiner Swimming School, we also carry out the examinations for the Austrian swimming badges in our swimming courses. In doing so, we comply with the regulations and guidelines of the Austrian Water Rescue System.
A swimming badge is not only a personal confirmation of your own achievements. In addition to promoting general basic knowledge and skills in swimming, it prepares you for life-saving swimming. It also serves as a verification of basic swimming skills and is required for admission to numerous schools, institutions and many professions. Therefore, swimmers receive the Austrian swimmer’s certificate from us after passing the swimming test.
In general, the Austrian swimming certificates include four performance levels: “Frühschwimmer” (early swimmer), “Freischwimmer” (confident or “free” swimmer), “Fahrtenschwimmer” (experienced swimmer) and the “Allroundschwimmer” (all-around swimmer). In addition, there are five levels to the Austrian water rescue badges: “Helfer” (helper), “Retter” (rescuer), “Lifesaver” (life saver), “Schwimmlehrer” (swimming instructor) and “Rettungsschwimmlehrer” (water rescue swimming instructor).
We would like to present you a quick guide to the most important swimming badges for children and adolescents:
The “Frühschwimmer” (Early Swimmer)
The “Früschwimmer” badge has no age limit and can be obtained as early as possible. However, it is important not to overwhelm the child and thus to take away the fun of swimming. Experience has shown that one can start to encourage most children from the age of four to take on this swimming challenge without running the risk of asking too much of them. For this reason, obtaining this swimming badge is part of the program in our beginner swimming courses for children, which is for children from 4 years of age.
The requirements of the “Frühschwimmer” badge:
- 25 meters swimming in any style
- A Jump from the edge of the pool into the water
- Knowledge of 5 swimming pool rules
The “Freischwimmer” (Confident or “Free” Swimmer)
The Freischwimmer badge can be earned starting at the age of seven. “Freischwimmer” differs from the “Früschwimmer” in that the focus is on continuous swimming for a certain period of time. This makes a lot of sense, as most bathing accidents happen due to poor swimming technique and the resulting rapid fatigue. Even if a child with a Frühschwimmer badge can easily swim the entire length of a swimming pool, they are still far from being a confident, safe swimmer!
Consequently, only the Freischwimmer is valid proof of basic swimming skills in our opinion. The parents of a child who has master ed the requirements of the Freischwimmer can let them go swimming on holiday with a clear conscience, but nevertheless under supervision! That is why the Freischwimmer badge is part of the course in our children’s swimming courses for slightly advanced swimmers.
The requirements of the Freischwimmer badge:
- 7 years of age
- 15 minutes of continuous swimming in any style
- A jump into the water from a height of approx. 1 meter
- Knowledge of the 10 rules of swimming
The “Fahrtenschwimmer” (The Experienced Swimmer)
The Fahrtenschwimmer badge can be earned from the age of nine. This swimming badge includes not only the requirements of the Freischwimmer badge, but additional diving exercises that demand disciplined breath control from the swimmer as well. The “Fahrtenschwimmer” certificate is a prerequisite for admission to higher educational instituions for teaching in Austria. In addition, it is reuired when applying to the police force.
For this reason, the “Fahrtenschwimmer” certificate is an integral part of our children and youth swimming courses for advanced swimmers.
The requirements of the “Fahrtenschwimmer” badge:
- At least 9 years of age
- 15 minutes of continuous swimming in any style
- 10 meters of distance diving just under the surface
- Diving once to retrieve an object (weighing approx. 2.5 kg) from the bottom of the pool (approx. 2 meters deep)
- Swimming 50 meters on the back without using the arms
- A dive into the pool from from approx. 1 meter above the water or any kind of jump into the pool from 3 meters above the water
- Knowledge of the 10 rules of swimming
The “Allroundschwimmer” (The All-around Swimmer)
The swimming test for all-around swimmers can be taken from the age of 11. The all-around swimmer badge not only requires different swimming strokes over a longer distance, but the swimmer must also cover a certain distance in a set amount of time. In addition, the swimmer is tested on basic knowledge of rescuing others and one’s self in the water. The all-around swimmer badge can also be obtained in our children’s and youth swimming courses for advanced swimmers.
The requirements of the Allroundschwimmer badge:
- at least 11 years of age
- 200 meters swimming in two different strokes (100 meters breaststroke, 100 meters backstroke)
- 100 meters swimming in any style in 2 minutes 30 seconds
- 10 meters of distance diving just under the surface
- Diving once to retrieve an object (weighing approx. 2.5 kg) from the bottom of the pool (approx. 2 meters deep)
- 25 meters transporting (towing) an equally heavy person
- Knowledge of self-rescue techniques
- Knowledge of the 10 rules of swimming
In addition to the Frühschwimmer, Freischwimmer, Fahrtenschwimmer and Allroundschwimmer, there are also the Austrian water rescue badges: “Helfer” (helper), “Retter” (rescuer), “Lifesaver” (life saver), “Schwimmlehrer” (swimming instructor) and Rettungschwimmlehrer “water rescue swimming teacher). However, these are not part of our regular course program. If you are interested in obtaining one of these swimming badges, please contact us!
Olympic Games 1936 in Berlin ©alamy.com
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