YMCA snares three AUSTSWIM awards

YMCA South Australia (The Y) has been recognised for the outstanding quality of its swimming lessons program, winning in three major categories at the annual AUSTSWIM South Australia awards.

AUSTSWIM is nationally recognised as the peak organisation for the teaching of swimming and water safety. Since its inception in 1979, over 360,000 teachers of swimming and water safety have been trained with about 13,000 candidates trained annually. The AUSTSWIM Licence is the industry-standard for swimming and water safety teachers.

The Parks Recreation and Sports Centre was recognised in the Small Swim Centre category, while individual awards were won by Effie Carey – Best New Teacher (The Parks), and Chloe Howe – Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety (Port Lincoln Leisure Centre).

The success of The Parks underlines the Y’s continual commitment to ensuring its swimming and water safety program is delivered at the highest standard possible and includes the best and most relevant content. The uncompromised aim is to promote safety of children in and around water.

Best New Teacher recipient, Effie Carey, is a young mother of two boys – Levi (4) and Ethan (9) – who was a gym member at The Parks and joined the swimming lessons team over a year ago. She is always cheerful and brings a positive vibe and attitude, making everyone around her feel engaged and welcome.

She is self-motivated and seeks all potential learning opportunities, sharing her experiences and discussing techniques, teaching methods and strategies with senior staff daily. In her short tenure to date, she has connected with and built relationships with many students across all swimming lessons classes.

Port Lincoln Leisure Centre’s Chloe Howe was successful in the blue riband category of best Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety. Chloe has been an instructor at the centre for the last four years, is AUSTSWIM Access and Inclusion and Infant Aquatics qualified and teaches across all ages.

Chloe is an incredibly hard worker, is reliable, enthusiastic and passionate about her students and the delivery of her classes. She combines her aquatics work with time as a Customer Service Officer and Duty Manager at the Centre and is pursuing study to become a teacher. She is a highly valued staff member and is someone who definitely has the Y factor.

YMCA Regional Development Manager, Craig Hortin, said that the AUSTWIM awards were great acknowledgement for the dedication and effort put in by both teachers, together with the staff and volunteer team at The Parks.

“AUSTSWIM is recognised as one of the industry’s leading qualifications for those wishing to enter the aquatics industry, so it is extremely pleasing to be judged as the best in these important categories,” he said. “The Y invests a great deal in our swimming and water safety programs to ensure it is at the very top in quality, while also focusing on accessibility to all. We are thrilled with these awards and congratulate Effie, Chloe and the entire team at The Parks.”

Learn more about becoming a swimming teacher and see our vacancies below.