Myrtha pools for learn-to-swim. Where technology meets swim education
Every year on the last Wednesday of June, tens of thousands of children and adults jump into pools across more than 50 countries as part of the World's Largest Swimming Lesson (WLSL), the global awareness event dedicated to water safety education.
This year, Myrtha Pools – the Italian manufacturer behind pools at six Olympic Games and over 193 world records – marks the occasion not with a single gesture, but with a commitment: designing and building aquatic facilities where learning to swim is built into the blueprint.
A learn-to-swim pool is not simply a smaller competition pool. It requires specific features, from shallow and precisely controlled depths to slip-resistant surfaces, clear visibility, comfort, hygiene and the flexibility to reconfigure spaces as programs evolve. Myrtha's solutions address each of these needs directly.
Compared to traditional materials such as conventional steel, ceramic and tile, one of the most significant technical advantages is Myrtha's exclusive white stainless steel panels.
This unique characteristic helps create bright, crystal-clear water visibility, supporting lifeguards and drowning detection systems. It also enables integration with underwater camera technology through the AngelEye system. Another advantage of Myrtha's white panels is their natural resistance to bacterial proliferation. The result is superior water quality that can help reduce the need for chemicals, an important benefit for toddler and children's swimming lessons.
Flexibility is another key factor in designing spaces for swim education. Myrtha's movable floor system allows operators to adjust water depth hydraulically, transforming a shallow teaching area into a lap-swimming lane within the same footprint. This makes it possible to accommodate different activities and user groups in a single pool tank throughout the day.
Across many projects, the combination of a movable floor and a movable bulkhead allows municipalities and aquatic operators to create a 50 m or 25 m pool that can adapt to different needs, from learn-to-swim sessions and swimming training to water polo competitions and aquagym classes. As children's lessons and many other program types require higher water temperatures, Myrtha also offers a thermal bulkhead. This solution allows toddler swimming lessons and other activities to take place at the same time, with different temperature regimes in separate areas of the same pool.
Comfort is also essential when designing for younger swimmers and beginners.
Myrtha Soft Floor, combined with an anti-slip flooring finish, provides a softer and safer surface for children and adults alike, helping to build confidence in the water from the very first lessons. Myrtha provides hundreds of institutional pools worldwide. From primary schools in Europe to high schools and universities in the United States, from Australia and Japan to Latin America, Myrtha brings more than 30 years of experience in delivering best-in-class solutions for learn-to-swim programs. In Italy, every Aquamore center includes a learn-to-swim pool, while in France and the UK the importance of having pools adapted to learn-to-swim use is a widely recognized community need.
Access to public aquatic centers has a significant social impact. It supports mental and physical health, while learn-to-swim courses improve aquatic skills and help prevent drowning.
That is where Myrtha comes in: helping communities create swimming pools that respond to local needs while guaranteeing the highest standards of safety, performance and long-term reliability. This may mean a dedicated learn-to-swim center for toddlers and children, with underwater benches and drowning detection cameras integrated into the Myrtha stainless steel structure. Or it may mean a 25 meter competition pool featuring learn-to-swim accessories such as a movable floor. In every case, Myrtha engineers work with clients to create aquatic environments that support swimming skills, water safety and the development of aquatic disciplines.
"A pool built for learning is one of the most consequential pieces of public infrastructure a community can invest in", said Roberto Colletto, CEO of Myrtha Pools. "Water safety is not a luxury. It is a life skill. Our role is to make sure the facilities that teach it are built to last, built to perform, and built to welcome every child who walks through the door, safely".
The World's Largest Swimming Lesson is not merely an event. For many aquatic centers featuring one or more Myrtha pools, particularly in the United States and India, it is an opportunity to celebrate a mission we share: creating safer, more flexible and more welcoming aquatic spaces where people can learn to swim with confidence.
