Making the grade: aquatics directors who do their homework can earn high marks working within the educational system. Our Field Report shows how to blend pools with schools to create healthy students and a new generation of swimmers.(FIELD REPORT)(Brief article)

For many aquatics professionals, schools are the equivalent of a gold mine they an never quite reach: All those eager young students who could well become a new generation of swimmers are stuck behind walls of red tape, budget questions and turf battles.

In the face of such obstacles, most pool operators have simply given up rather than try to develop on- or off-campus swim programs or even make aquatics part of the regular curriculum.

That's too bad because schools really are an untapped vein of swimmers.

Approximately 25 percent of public and private high schools already have swimming pools, according to PK Data, a statistical research center in Duluth, Ga., and Aquatics International's own research. No good data exists on the percentage of schools that offer structured aquatics programs outside of competitive teams. But it's a good bet the percentage is far less.

Compared with other countries ...