Swimming – fear, but only a little bit

Mohammad Shaban looks at the water from the edge of the pool. Around 50 children in the Tempelhof City Bad Tempelhof. In the middle of the pelvis, two teachers protrude over the small heads. They supervise the non -swimmers who are currently making their first experiences in the water. Some are already swimming and back on the edges of the pelvis, along the lanes. Others hold a swimming board in their hands, they step back with their legs to get forward. Many are worn by yellow bathing noodles. “The children still have to learn to keep the body upright,” explains Shaban.

In intensive courses like this learning of Berlin children swimming who would otherwise not have had the opportunity. The free holiday courses are offered by the Berlin Swimming Association – with the support of the Berlin Senate and the State Sports Association Berlin (LSB). “We are also pleased that we can offer the children this opportunity. Sometimes children whose parents themselves cannot swim. For us it is a chance that you get to know the water with us first, «says the 36-year-old.

nd.kompact – our daily newsletter

Our daily newsletter nd. compact Bring order to the news madness. You get an overview of the most exciting stories from the Editorial team. Get the free subscription here.

Mohammad Shaban leads the courses. Four swimming hours for children from the third class take place every day. Then there is another hour for the older children up to tenth grade. Every child has a swimming lesson a day for a week. The children should “not just learn to swim somehow, but feel safe in the water,” says Shaban. Around 700 children take part in the swimming courses in the Tempelhof, Tiergarten and Marzahn districts; 500 of them, he estimates, manage to leave the course with a swimming badge.

Swimming director Shaban fled from Syria in 2015. At first, a tractor helped him cross the border with Türkiye: »Turkish soldiers shot me. Fortunately, they didn’t hit, «he jokes. His expression remains friendly while he tells his sad story, he sounds almost in a good mood. On the way from Turkey to Greece, he says, they were to the eleven or twelve – in a boat that was only for four people. “Most couldn’t swim. I wondered all the time how I can help everyone if something happened. My best friend was there who could not swim, but also children and old people. ”After four hours, they landed on the Greek island of Kos. “We ran to Serbia for two days from Greece,” he says. With the help of another tractor, he finally arrived in Passau.

After three years in Bavaria, he heard from the State Sports Association in Berlin in 2018. “They train people with refugee experience so that they become a trainer,” said a friend. Shaban applied, moved to Berlin and made his C license as a trainer at the Sportbund. “Then I worked a little on a voluntary basis for sports clubs, that was a giving and taking,” he says. When Corona pandemic began, no sport was allowed to be driven even in the clubs. Shaban worked in a logistics company until the Landesportbund Berlin came back to him in 2021. “They knew that I was interested in swimming, they knew my story: I already had known to swim in Syria.” The LSB offered him an apprenticeship as a swimming trainer. “I took all my vacation days for that – and then I did it,” says Shaban.

In 2021 he completed the swimming instructor training as one of 20 students. In the meantime, he has taken over the management of the courses in Berlin. “We were just so satisfied with Mohammad,” says Manuel Kopitz, Managing Director of the Berlin Swimming Association, who is a guest in Tempelhof on the Beckenrand that day. “He developed so positively. We quickly knew that he could. ”Shaban is grateful for the support:“ That’s why I worked on a voluntary basis again and again. The Sportbund financed the license for me; It is important to me to return something. “

In the meantime, some children dare into the deeper water. Even the non -swimmers dare a bit deeper. They accompany two trainers. “They now bring the children from the flat to deep water – but only if the children trust themselves,” explains Shaban. “Everyone should have experienced at least once what it feels like in the water.”

Many of these elementary school students will do their seahorse at the end of the week. Most of them had only had bad experiences in the water before. Shaban is also about learning the children to admit their fears. “Some don’t want to show that,” he says. That’s why he learned to talk to them about it: “Without being ashamed!” He too was afraid in his life. “I always tell the children: you have to be afraid. Otherwise I may jump into the depth and drown, “explains the swimming instructor,” that’s why we have to be afraid, but not so big. “

Then the hour ends. Shaban leads the children out. The path runs over wet tiles past the ground, past yellow walls, to the shoe shelf and then to the exit. The next children are already raging in front of the glass doors. With big eyes you look at Shaban, full of anticipation for your swimming lesson. He smiles. Then he opens the door.