No pool – no problem

As the temperature rises and parents look for summer activities for their children, swimming lessons seem a natural choice. Many parents send their kids to city pools to learn the basics, but in Medical Lake, children have a different option.

Medical Lake doesn’t have a city pool. Instead, the city parks and recreation department offers swimming lessons in the lake at Waterfront Park.

“It requires me nothing but to have the instructor,” said Ashlee King, director of parks and recreation in Medical Lake.

That instructor is Bill Bresko, a Korean War veteran who has 54 saves on the water. He also saved two dogs and a cow from drowning. He said he’s been teaching kids to swim in Medical Lake for about 20 years and that one of his students is now in the Naval Academy.

“He’s so good with the kids,” King said of Bresko.

Bresko is assisted by Cherron Ekstrom, who works with the younger kids while Bresko works with the older ones. The two teach beginner and intermediate lessons to ages 3 through 15.

“It’s totally different to learn at the lake than the pool,” Ekstrom said.

Bresko starts beginners’ class by teaching the kids to feel familiar in the water. He shows them how to blow bubbles and float, with help, on the front or the back. Swimmers learn basic strokes, how to kick on their stomachs or backs, and how to swim through hula hoops.

To learn water safety skills, the students go out in pairs, using a floating plank to represent a dock. One student, wearing a life jacket, jumps off the plank into the water, and the other helps the first get back onto the plank.

The students learn CPR as well.

“They teach them earlier now for CPR,” Bresko said.

The lessons last 45 to 60 minutes, and when done, parents and kids can stay as long as they like.

“(They get) more time in the water than at a pool,” Bresko said.

He and Ekstrom also said the kids like sharing the water with the fish and other wildlife.

The lessons are offered in the mornings in two-week sessions during July. Each session costs $35. The department is no longer accepting students for the final session.

King said the department keeps the lessons short to keep the classes full. There are about 16 students in each class.