Table of Contents
💪 Introduction
Why our ALGSO Aquagym in Schifflange Class is Perfect for Cancer Warriors:
Before we even talk about what the class is, let’s talk about the feeling people are really looking for when they join an ALGSO session: safety, confidence, and a space where you can move without having to explain yourself.
Because cancer changes the way you move, and sometimes the way you feel about moving. After (or during) treatment, many people are told “you should do sport”, but that advice can land like a brick when your energy is low, your confidence has taken a hit, or you’re worried your body simply won’t cooperate.
Our coach, Catherine, understands that gap. She sees it in real life, not just in theory: people don’t avoid movement because they don’t care.
They avoid it because the step between wanting to feel better and walking into a sports environment can feel huge. This class is designed to make that step smaller, safer, and more doable.
It’s also perfect because it protects what matters most: dignity and ease. The pool is reserved just for the group, which means no outside eyes and no pressure to “look a certain way”. For people who are in chemo, living with scars, or navigating body changes, that privacy is not a luxury. It’s freedom.
And then there’s the water itself: supportive, forgiving, and incredibly confidence-building. It allows you to move without feeling punished by your joints, your balance, or your fatigue. You can come on a strong day and challenge yourself, or come on a tired day and do what you can.
Either way, you’re still doing something meaningful for your body and your mind.
Most importantly, this class gives people something cancer often steals: a sense of control. Catherine describes it as empowering, because you’re not just being “treated”. You’re actively building strength, confidence, and momentum again, at your pace, in a space that feels positive and human.
What is it?
A sporty, adaptable aquagym session that combines AquaPilates and Aquafitness: built for people affected by cancer, whether you’re in treatment, recovering, or years into remission and rebuilding your strength.
This is movement that respects your reality while still giving you that satisfying “I did something good for myself” feeling.
And the best part? The water does a lot of the heavy lifting (literally): you’re supported, your joints get a break, and you can work cardio, endurance, mobility, and strength in a way that feels kinder to the body.
Let’s Dive In: Why ALGSO Aquagym is More Than Just a Workout
Catherine is an oncology-specialised physiotherapist who’s seen a common gap: people are told “you should do sport,” but the jump from “should” to “actually doing it” can be massive.
Her answer is this class: structured, safe, welcoming and genuinely motivating.
As she puts it, aquagym doesn’t carry the same “medical” feeling as yet another appointment. It feels like doing something for yourself, while still supporting recovery in a very real way.
It’s an empowering way for each individual to retake the reins of their lives back into their hands, doing something fun, constructive and above all things: something that remains their own personal choice.
This class swaps out the physio cabinet for a pool, the doctor’s prescription for a towel and the sighs with giggles.
The physio becomes an animator and the waiting room small talk becomes changing-room banter and coffee plans.
It’s a workout yes, but it’s also empowerment, community, endorphins and safety.
What makes this class special?
The pool is private: just ALGSO.
This might be the single biggest reason people relax the moment they walk in.
Catherine is very clear: the pool is exclusively reserved for the class “There’s never anyone else but us.” And that changes everything when you’re living with the visible and invisible impacts of cancer.
Because it’s not just about comfort. It’s about feeling safe in your body again.
“There’s no look from other people,” Catherine says. She has participants who come during chemo (and she insists it’s important they do), plus women who arrive after mastectomy, sometimes with prostheses that are awkward or uncomfortable in swimwear. In a public pool, that can create tension before the first exercise even starts. Here, the atmosphere is different:
Everyone has lived the same thing, so nobody cares.
Catherine Servatius-Schot – ALGSO coach in Schifflange
And that “nobody cares” is a gift. It’s what allows people to move without self-consciousness, without performing, and without that exhausting mental load of worrying how they’re perceived. Catherine even sees it in the small details that actually signal big progress: people who once hid away in individual changing cabins now feel comfortable enough to use the shared space, and their self-confidence visibly grows with each new day.
For Catherine, that shift is a real marker of healing: not just physically, but emotionally too.
The depth is adjustable across the entire pool.
This is one of those features you don’t realise you need… until you have it.
The pool has an adjustable floor, meaning Catherine can set one consistent depth for the entire pool (usually 1m20).
The result is simple but powerful: no one is “stuck” in a deep end while someone else barely has any water to work with. Everyone shares the same conditions, which reduces anxiety and increases confidence, especially for participants who don’t feel secure in water or who simply don’t want another thing to worry about.
It also means Catherine can adapt to the group in real time. If a participant is smaller, if someone is more nervous, if comfort needs to come first: she can choose the depth that helps everyone feel steady. It’s an environment designed to support people, not test them.
And Catherine adds a reassuring bonus (with a laugh):
There is always a lifeguard, so even if you can’t swim, we’ll be saved!
Catherine Servatius-Schot – ALGSO coach in Schifflange
It’s not the “granny with a pool noodle” stereotype.
Let’s retire that cliché right now.
Catherine says it bluntly: you can’t call this “a grandma class”. Yes, there may be pool noodles (and yes, she jokes about them too), but the work is real and the results are, too.
We really can’t say the aquagym here is a granny class… you know the stereotype: “grandma with the noodle”… Here, everyone who comes is surprised by the level. It’s really sporty.
Catherine Servatius-Schot – ALGSO coach in Schifflange
And what makes it special isn’t just that it’s energetic. It’s that it’s purposeful. Catherine teaches with intention: she sets goals, varies the focus, and creates sessions that help people feel progress without feeling pressure.
What’s also striking is the mix of people she supports: she can have a participant in her thirties in the same group as someone in their eighties who has never done sport before, and both can thrive. Catherine loves that because it allows everyone to move in a way that feels right for them, while still being part of a shared group energy:
It gives power back to the participants.
Catherine Servatius-Schot – ALGSO coach in Schifflange
That’s the heart of it: this class isn’t about proving anything to anyone.
It’s about rediscovering capability: sometimes quietly, sometimes with a laugh, and often with that proud post-class feeling.
What to Expect in This Schifflange Class
Class Structure
Your Thursday session runs from 2:00pm to 3:30pm:
Inside the class, Catherine keeps things varied with real training goals. Every session includes:
The Social Side
This class is famously convivial.
People who didn’t know each other become the kind of group that:
Catherine describes it as a supportive space that stays positive.
Yes, the word “oncology” is there, but the conversations aren’t only about cancer. It’s about life, movement, and feeling less alone in it all.
Catherine adds something she clearly cherishes: the social transformation. The way a group of strangers becomes a little community.
And she is careful to underline something important: this friendly, convivial atmosphere doesn’t dilute the purpose. It actually supports it.
But this convivial side doesn’t hide the therapeutic goal of the class. It’s not just hanging around. It’s not “happy aquagym where we do nothing”.
Catherine Servatius-Schot – ALGSO coach in Schifflange
It’s really a whole thing that works and that feels good.
Adaptability
This is where Catherine shines.
She regularly teaches people across a wide spectrum:
The rule is simple: everyone moves at their own pace, and Catherine adapts the exercises (resistance, range, intensity) based on how you feel that day. A quick chat before class and you’re set.
In other words: you don’t need to do the maximum to get the benefit. You just need a safe space where movement is possible, where you can adjust without embarrassment, and where you’re not made to feel like the “slow one” or the “new one”.
Meet the Coach
Catherine Servatius-Schot
Catherine is an oncology-specialised physiotherapist who leads this class with equal parts expertise, energy, and warmth.
She believes movement is a long-game support: pre-op, post-op, during chemo, during hormone therapy, and even in remission. Because it supports function, confidence, and long-term wellbeing.
She also brings a very Belgian ingredient: humour. Expect music, jokes, and the kind of friendly challenges that make people laugh while they work.
📍 The Location
Where it Happens and What to Expect:
Address:
Piscine de l’École Lydie Schmit
Rue de la Forêt
L-3836 Schifflange
Luxembourg
With an adjustable floor level and a lifeguard always present, the pool is exclusively reserved for the entire duration of the class and for a half hour afterwards. This ensures a safe and comfortable environment.
There are several different changing rooms available (individual cabins and group ones), as well as showers and hairdryers.
As well as several parking options to choose from, carpooling is often organised amongst the participants.
