Volunteers at Raumati Swimming Club upskill with SNZ education courses

Raumati Swimming Club is doing a great job of helping bridge the gap between learning to swim and competitive swimming by encouraging their volunteers to take part in Swimming New Zealand’s education courses.

Simon Reeves is one such volunteer from the club, completing the Swimming New Zealand Swim Teacher Award (SNZ STA) qualification with Swim Safe Advisor, Sarah Gibbison last year; he is now enrolled into the Teacher of Competitive Strokes (TCOS) course for June to take the next step in his development.

Reeves has been volunteering at the Kapiti Coast based club for about two years and has recently started working in the main pool where he is helping children develop their technique over a greater distance.

Now many of Reeves students’ progress directly into the competitive swim squad with the club’s head coach Jon Winter.

“He has an excellent attitude and is very enthusiastic with his children. He performs to an extremely high standard and gives it everything he has,” Gibbison said of Reeves.

Reeves said he was encouraged by the club’s co-ordinator, Lesley Cecioni, to take part in the SNZ STA course and has received a lot of support from the club and the parents involved.

Reeves said the SNZ STA course provided him with a clear understanding of what is expected from students and the way the teaching points were explained was very helpful.

He added that his level of performance can also be credited to mentoring from the club’s Junior Coach Val Payne and a great amount of support and feedback from Winter, who is also a former Olympic swimmer.