Inner-city club going swimmingly

New figures show Australians spend a million dollars on bringing up their children – but one inner-city swimming club is helping parents cut costs.

This summer, trained volunteers at the South Sydney Swimming Club will hold holiday swimming lessons for all club members in January – and local parents are delighted.

Nerida Langenheim, a pharmacist, of Chippendale, said the club is a blessing for parents who want their children to learn to swim and don’t want to spend a fortune. Daughter, Sienna, four, has had just a handful of lessons and is already comfortable in the water.

“I think the coach has magical powers,” she joked.

She and her husband, Mick, a lawyer, have four children, Renee, nine, Ruben, seven, Sienna, four and Bianca, two; and the older three have benefited from learning to swim in a relaxed environment, says Nerida.

The family had enrolled the children at more formal lessons at one of the big inner city swimming schools but Nerida and Mick felt that the children’s progress had plateaued in the very formal environment.

“We love the community feel the club has … as soon as we came here, the children just turned a corner,” she said. “The quality is so good.”

Her view is that the club’s volunteer coaches, all Austswim trained, make a big difference – and encourage the swimmers to attend regularly in order to make good progress.

John Kavanagh, one of the club’s coaches, is delighted at the progress all the swimmers have made this year. He says that the Learn to Swim program is the cornerstone of the club, which was founded 50 years ago.

Kavanagh and other club officials say that they are strong believers in making sure they can keep costs down – just $80 a swimmer for the season plus pool admission – so families can afford to make their children water-safe.

Richard White, club president, said: “And we couldn’t do this without the help of the City of Sydney Council, which has been giving the club support through Victoria Park Pool for decades now … local families are very grateful that the Council supports a community organisation like ours,” he said.

White’s three children, Lachlan, 11, Maddy, 13, and Sophie, 10, all attend the club during the year.
“The club offers something for swimmers at all stages,” he said.

The intensive program runs Monday to Saturdays in January at Victoria Park Pool from 8am. Membership for each swimmer is $80 plus pool admission for each entry. From October to March, the club has race nights on Thursday nights and training on Saturday morning and Tuesday night. A 20 visit pass for children to the pool is just under $50.

To find out more about the club, call the club’s president, Richard White, on 0401701226 or John Kavanagh on 9660 4660.