Column 1: Back in the rhythm, but don't let go of the swimming – Swimming Ambassador Alkmaar Max Delissen

Published on: 17 September 2026

The alarm goes off early again, the lunch boxes are on the kitchen counter and the bags are ready in the hallway. The summer holiday is already a distant memory by now. For many families, September mainly means: back into the routine. School, work, football, swimming club, hockey, music lessons and everything else that has to fit into the schedule in between. And somewhere between all those fixed moments, something disappears that often felt very natural in the summer: swimming.

From holiday feeling to weekly schedule

In the summer, you don't need to explain to anyone why water is fun. Children jump into the swimming pool, look for cooling off in a lake or are already standing ready in their swim trunks on holiday before breakfast is ready. Adults also more readily take a dip when it's warm.

But as soon as everyday life starts again, swimming sometimes takes on a different place. Then it quickly becomes something to do with swimming lessons, holidays or an occasional visit to the swimming pool. I actually think that's a shame.

My name is Max Delissen and I am Swimming Ambassador for Alkmaar. Swimming and aquatic sports have played a major role in my life for over 50 years. In the coming columns, I would like to show why water continues to fascinate me. Not only from the perspective of sport, but also health, enjoyment, safety and everything you can learn in the water. Because swimming does not stop once you have obtained your certificate.

A skill you must keep doing and using

We think it is completely normal for a child to go to the swimming pool less often after getting a swimming certificate. It is logical too. But swimming is just like cycling, running or catching a ball: the more often you do it, the easier and more familiar it remains.

A certificate shows that you have mastered certain skills at the time you pass your swimming test. After that, the most important part actually begins: continuing to move in the water.

That really doesn't always have to be serious or performance-driven. Playing, diving, having little races, going down the slide, swimming underwater or just doing a few lengths: it all counts.

Precisely by continuing to do different things, you get to know your body better in the water. You become stronger, more adept and more confident. And the great thing is that you often don't even realise you're practising in the meantime.

Swimming can just be fun too

Perhaps that is something we sometimes forget. When it comes to swimming, we often talk about certificates, swimming safety and technique. All important, but fun is at least as important to ensure that someone continues swimming.

At Alkmaar Sport we therefore also try to look more broadly at movement in the water. At the Hoornse Vaart swimming pool and De Hout swimming pool, you can see daily how differently people swim. One person comes to do serious lengths, another to relax and children mainly want to discover everything that is possible in and under water.

Swimming is cool!

Also within Swim is cool, Alkmaar Sport's schools programme for pupils in years 5 to 8, it is not just about neatly swimming from one side to the other. In the Hoornse Vaart swimming pool, children are introduced to different ways of moving, working together and challenging themselves in the water.

I think that is important. Because those who keep enjoying swimming will probably also keep doing it for longer.

If you've developed a taste for swimming

And sometimes it doesn't stop at recreational swimming. If swimming really gets a hold of you, there is also competitive swimming. In Alkmaar, you can go to the swimming club DAW for this. There, you can get acquainted with competitive swimming, water polo and synchronised swimming at various ages. Three very different sports, but all with the same starting point: fun in the water and continuing to develop yourself.

A place in the ordinary rhythm

Now that the holidays are truly behind us, we are packing our weeks full again. Perhaps this is a good time not only to look at when training or music lessons start, but also at how often we actually still get into the water.

That doesn't need to be three times a week. It is mainly about ensuring that swimming doesn't slowly disappear as soon as the swimming certificates are in or the suitcases are back in the loft.

Summer may be over, but the joy of swimming doesn't need to be packed away with the holiday gear.

Swimming is fun!

With sparkling regards,
Swimming Ambassador Alkmaar
Max Delissen