Hong Kong swim school helps kids with disabilities and low income families jump in at the deep end

Splash Foundation’s goal is to help underprivileged demographics of Hong Kong society overcome their fears of water by learning to swim

One class focuses on kids with disabilities and special education needs, the Splash Jockey Club SwimABLE programme

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Splash Foundation’s swim student Ricky learning to do the back float with coach C.K. Kan. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:00am, 16 Aug 2021Updated: 9:38pm, 16 Aug 2021

For Ricky, clad in his swim goggles and a wet suit with a huge smile on his face, everything boils down to one statement: “I feel happier in the water,” said the 11-year-old who just finished his 20th swim lesson. “I like that I can do a back float, it makes me feel very proud.”

Ricky is a local boy who is a part of the Splash Foundation, a Hong Kong based charity that looks to help under-resourced communities learn to swim. Ricky is part of a class that teaches kids with special education needs, which includes Down syndrome, autism, ADHD and physical disabilities such as hearing and visual impairment. The goal is simple: get them comfortable in the water early in life, thus teaching them a valuable life skill in the process.

So far Splash has worked with more than 155 children with disabilities through its Splash Jockey Club SwimABLE Programme, part of the broader foundation that also includes foreign domestic workers and kids from low income families. Ricky’s mother Amy, who was watching her son swim at Kellett School, an international school in Kowloon Bay, said her son has blossomed under the guidance and care of the foundation’s coaches.

Amy said she has noticed a drastic change in her son since he started attending the swimming sessions.

Ricky (in white cap) learns swimming from coach C.K. Kan, a coach with the Splash Foundation in Hong Kong. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

“He was initially kind of scared and reluctant to get into the water,” said Amy. “But gradually his coaches felt like his fathers, so the care and attention he got from the coaches was nice and he felt safe and confident enough to be in the water.”