Column 2: WaterWijs with Swim is cool – Swimming ambassador Max Delissen from Alkmaar

Published on: 9 October 2026

A swimming certificate is a wonderful possession. It is proof that you have learned to swim. You can save yourself in the water, you have practiced, persevered, and perhaps even gathered the courage a few times to jump off that diving board. But a certificate is not an end point, but rather a beginning.

More than learning to swim

After all, learning to swim is ultimately about more than just the right technique. It’s about confidence, moving alone or together, and having fun. It’s about feeling what the water is doing to you, knowing when to keep going and when to pause for a moment. Water requires something different from you than a gym or a football field. You have to learn to float, move, look, react, and sometimes… help each other.

That is something that I find important as a swimming ambassador for Alkmaar. Because being able to swim is one thing, but really feeling confident in the water is something else.

Discover what water does to you

That's exactly where Swim is cool begins. Not only with the question of how fast you can swim from one side to the other, but especially with the question of what is possible in and around the water.

At Alkmaar Sport, students from groups 5 to 8 discover that swimming has many aspects. In the Hoornse Vaart swimming pool, they play water polo one minute, then learn what a jellyfish is or how to save themselves and others. The children jump, dive, balance, throw, catch and move in ways they may not have tried before.

Water makes children curious. It frees them from their habitual patterns. Anyone who stumbles on dry land can suddenly move fluidly in the water. Anyone who normally doesn’t lead the way may turn out to be an excellent swimmer, rescuer, or a natural team player. In the water, every child has the chance to rediscover who they are and what they can do.

Five different ways to look at water

The five themes of Swim are cool and showcase this versatility: Save Your Friend, Sea Heroes, Dive into Swimming, Athletic Skills Model and Free Swimming XL.

Five perspectives, five different experiences. Together they form a program where fun and skill go hand in hand. Because children often learn the most when they fully immerse themselves in something. When practicing doesn’t feel like practice, but rather like discovery.

And maybe that’s what I find so beautiful about swimming. In the water, it’s not always about who is the fastest or strongest. Sometimes it’s about daring, working together, or discovering that you can do something you didn’t even know you could do yourself.

WaterWijs for life

Swim is cool makes children WaterWijs. The sea, a pond, a lake or a swimming pool: water is attractive. You can exercise and have fun in it, but water also carries risks. Knowing what to do, recognizing danger and being able to help others are skills that last a lifetime. Not as a heavy lesson, but as an inherent part of growing up.

Swim is cool teaches children not only how to swim. It also teaches them about courage, attention and responsibility. It teaches them about the power of collaboration. It teaches them about the space that arises when you dare to entrust yourself to something greater than yourself.

And maybe that is the most beautiful lesson of all: you don’t have to control the water to feel at home in it. You have to learn to listen to what it asks of you.

So: bring your swimsuits, get the whole class together and head into the water. Not just to go for a swim, but to move, to play, to learn and to get to know each other better. Feel free to contact me for more information or take a look around sometime. www.hoornsevaart.nl/swimiscool.

Because anyone who becomes WaterWijs comes home with more than just wet hair.

Swimming is fun!

With sparkling regards,
Swimming Ambassador Alkmaar
Max Delissen