Coach controls kids’ chaos at swim club

BY ALEX MCDONALD
It’s dusk at Victoria Park Swimming Pool off Broadway, and John Kavanagh is taking an unruly bunch of primary school kids through their paces.
After some mild coercion, the youngsters line up in groups of four to race in the open-air pool.
“It’s chaos here,” says Kavanagh under his breath.
And it’s been this way at the South Sydney Swimming Club for almost 50 years.
But these are lean times for amateur sports clubs, says Kavanagh. “These days the money is in the gym, or from adults buying season tickets. Kids are also more difficult to manage.”
Fortunately, he seems totally at ease with these pint-sized Thorpedoes. A Glebe journalist who moonlights as a swim instructor, Kavanagh is one of six AUSTSWIM-approved volunteers who have kept the South Sydney Swimming Club going since its long-term coach, Frank Keevers, passed away in June. The 80-year-old had taught thousands of inner-city kids to swim since the ’60s.
They plan to pay special tribute to Keevers when the club celebrates its 50th anniversary next year.
But right now they’re focused on improving their race speeds. “We’re really a school-age club,” Kavanagh says. “By the time kids are 16 or 17, they’ve usually had enough.”
Though most of the club’s 80-odd members are in primary school, there are a handful of high school swimmers and adult members.
The club even recruited a pair of 20-something Nepalese women recently, neither of whom had ever swum in a pool before.
“Mostly when I teach adults to swim, you spend a lot of time teaching them what not to do. These women are like the perfect textbook [students]. They don’t lose concentration’ and they think everything is absolutely hilarious because they’ve never spent time in a swimming pool.”
While some members have competed at district carnivals, the emphasis is on building a community of competent swimmers, rather than producing elite athletes.
The club charges $65 for six months of lessons. This makes it an attractive option for parents, particularly with a recession looming.
“Private swim schools can cost that much a month. We cater to people in the [Glebe public housing] estate and people around the area who are on lower incomes.”
Kavanagh says the club has a good relationship with the council-owned Victoria Park Pool, whch is not surprising given the club’s longevity.
A council spokeswoman said the rise in childhood obesity is one reason why the City supports the club. This means they get to use the lanes for free. “We negotiated that with the pool,” says Kavanagh.
Like many volunteer coaches, John Kavanagh became involved at the club when his own kids were learning to swim.
“You get caught and you can’t get away from it,” he laughs.