The world would be a better place if everyone could paddle.

I strongly believe, that whenever possible, water sports should be part of the PE curriculum in schools. It make me sad when I meet people who never learned to swim, especially when the feel like it's too late! In Canada and many other countries I know that paddling is considered a "sport for life," meaning that there is not age limit, you can begin at any time, and you're NEVER too old.

Many of the schools around here are not more than 5 or 10 minutes from the lake. In fact, more than a few have middle school kayak teams. But these are outside of the public school curriculum and by nature of the additional cost, prohibitive to many students.  That's a real shame.

There are so many ways that kids could be out there on the water. I know that inner city kids don't always have the opportunity to learn to swim. I almost feel like we're doing those kids a disservice by not teaching them. Everyone should have the opportunity to feel comfortable swimming with their friends. It's an inexpensive form of exercise, Not to mention, that quite honestly, learning to swim can truly save your life!

Ah, but there I go off an a tangent. Again. It's seems to me that we have the resources, why not bring it all together and teach these kids a really cool sport that they can do even after that knee operation at the age of 40? We've got kayaks and canoes, paddle boards, and even dragon boats for those who aren't as comfortable with the concept of having their boat flip or take on significant water. I propose that we have a regatta every year and bus in maybe 2 6th grade classes from each of the area schools. We can have lunch donated, make it a celebration. Heck, maybe we can even bring in a some of the Atlanta Falcons to beat on the drums. How cool would that be?

Why can't we have a kayaking Phys Ed class? Yeah, I know there's an inherent amount of liability. But that's why we guarantee that these kids can swim first. That's what we do in the middle school program, anyway. I know kayaking would necessitate a closer ratio of teacher to student. But I don't think that these challenges should stop up from introducing these kids to the greatest sport ever!?! Or a one-credit course at our local University. Wouldn't that be a really good way to bring young folks to the sport we all love??

Who's with me??? If we can get a group of like-minded people, people with a vision...can't we change the way that schools think? Let's get the kids outside, on the water. Where they belong.

TKM