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tribute jjanvaby13 1988 c3 stouffville man puts kids in the swim by denise mcdonald it was the first rubber cheque to float not bounce on sunday jan 10 jack buckler aquatics limited of willowdale presented a 500 cheque written on a rubber in- ner tube to the variety village swimming pool fund as metro torontos largest private swimming school weve had lots of experience in teaching children who are phy- 1 sically or mentally challenged how to swim thats why were i glad to contribute towards the million cost of the variety village pool said gloria buck- t ler in a press release were also making the dona tion to celebrate the 20th anniversary of jack buckler aquatics its our way of thank- s irig the community for its sup port during our two decades of growth founded in 1968 mrs buckler an rr4 stouff ville resident explained that jack buckler aquatics was founded by her husband in 1968 after being employed by the borough for a number of years jack discovered he had a nice talent for working with chil dren she said he also real ized you dont have to wait until a child is fiveyearsold before you can teach himher to swim while taking business man agement at ryerson polytechnical institute he be gan working with handicapped children at the hospital for sick children in a therapeutic pool and also performed work at the clarke institute of psychiatry one of the methods he de veloped met with enthusiastic response from members of the medical profession said mrs buckler as long as a childs spine was formed and he could sit up on his own methods could be developed to put that child under water safely combining municipal pool lessons as well as private and volunteer mrs buckler said her husband eventually found his time becoming chaotic working 80 to 100 hours a week in 1968 it was decided to amalgamate programs in the mississauga area by estab lishing the first of three pools that would be built north york was established in 1972 with scarboroughs following in 1974 north york has a 75foot pool with a water temperature of 92 degrees said mrs buckler the warm water is a nice thing for teaching the little ones be cause it eliminates shivering as well about 90 per cent of the pool is the same depth so the instructors can use the whole width of the pool mrs buckler claims her hus- band was particularly in terested in the safety of children around water and advocated drownproofing being able to swim the length of the pool 65 feet on front as well as back and tread water for one minute hold their breath it acts as a form of insur ance she explained these days so many people have cot tages but they just cant keep their eyes on a child every second therefore its quite easy for a little one to drop off the edge of a dock when the pa rent turns hisher back for only a second but with drownproofing the child instantly knows to hold hisher breath giving the indi vidual 30 seconds to scoop the child up and put himher back on the dock as well jack has developed and perfected ways of dealing with a variety of syndromes and phobias related to the water in 1977 twoyearold matthew martin was dragged from freez ing water after being sub- young mark spitz this little threeyearold has no fear of water thanks to jack bucklers philosophy once a childs spine has developed and heshe can sit up they can be put safely under water denise mcdonald merged for 20 minutes he had thrown his mothers car into re verse and it rolled down an embankment into the familys pond jack came along and took him back into the water to con tinue his swimming education said mrs buckler he now has no fear of the water what soever although children compose a large part of jack bucklers en deavors teaching the handicap to swim is the foundation on which its based its such a large part of why jack wanted to have his own business in the first place she said when you put a mentally or physically challenged child in the water their handicap be comes so much less visible we had a little girl come in who had fallen out of a moving car and was left a quadraple- gic mrs buckler continued thanks in part to a coopera tive mother jack was able to teach the girl to propel herself with her hands using them like fins and swim the length of the pool he works under the philoso phy sometimes you have to be cold on the outside and warm on the inside to cope with these children as well jack buckler offers a full complement of swimming badges from tadpole up to red cross white and royal life sav ing society levels 1 2 and 3 our swimming lessons are definitely more than meets the eye continued mrs buckler they also help to improve skills muscle tone and coor dination comprehension and discipline have your say j are exams a fair measuring stick for determining student ability traceyshqrtis nov becausea lot of stu- fdents have learned so much but when theygoin there and look at the paper they get worried and forget ev erything gleim no because a person can be smart yet blow an exam because they cracked under pressure kerry white yes because theyshow the ability offa student to re member and the abil teacher tohavetaught it well enough the student can apply it to the question patalles to some extent however i personally sometimes get a mental block begause the setting really bothers me y- y