Malta Municipal Pool opens

The Malta City Municipal Pool officially opened last Monday, June 7, and since then swimmers of all ages have jumped in to escape the heat of the early summer.

Along with the opening of the pool has come the Malta Parks and Recreation Swim Class, a class taught by Malta City Pool Manager and Swim Instructor Kelly Cederberg.

"Things went really smooth," Cederberg said. "Our lifeguards received their training last week and really just picked up where they left off."

The City Pool currently has six returning lifeguards from last year and seven new guards.

"Everyone knows their roles, the pool was full every day and it was a good week," Cederberg said.

There are a total of 54 students in the first of three swim lesson sessions. Students in this session range from age three to 13. Each class runs for 30 minutes.

Cederberg said that during these lessons, students work on their basic vital capacity (how long they can hold their breath), back floats, front floats, basic flutter kicks (using a kickboard), underwater swimming, front crawl, skulling, and going from their fronts to backs. For the older swimmers, additional time is spent teaching them the backstroke, sidestroke, lifejacket safety, and basic life-saving during classes.

"Reaching out with an object, throwing something out there for someone who is in trouble, or swimming something out to them," Cederberg said.

The older students also work on diving techniques.

The first session of lessons will end on June 18. The second session will start Monday, July 5, through Friday, July 16. A third session will start Monday, August 2, and end on Friday, August 13.

To sign up for lessons, contact the Malta Municipal Pool at 654-1426.

Open Swim at the pool is Monday through Friday, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. Lap Swim Only is from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Saturdays, open swim is from noon to 7 p.m. Lap Swim Only is from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Businesses will sponsor free swim days throughout the summer.