New club has beach in mind

A CLUB OF THEIR OWN: Waikanae Swim Club members gather at the Gisborne Boys’ High School pool. They are (from left): Grant Bramwell, Michelle Mitchell and Carl Newman. In the pool, back: Lydia Baxendale, Freya Wilson and Claire Hopper. Front: Jack McNaught and Jerome Tamatea. Seated: Keeleyrose Smiler, Silke McNaught, Riley Ingoe, Chloe Kapene, Kimberley Hayes, Georgie Pitkethley, Edan Wilson and Daniel Beattie. Picture by Paul Rickard

SWIMMING

A new Gisborne swim club with the goal of improving their members’ swimming abilities in the ocean is off to a successful start.

Kaiaponi Farms Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club started the swim club to help train the necessary skills to save lives and compete at surf lifesaving events, chairman Grant Bramwell said.

“We saw a need. Not everyone wants to be a member of a high-performance swim club.”

The club has been running a school holiday programme since November. It holds training for elite swimmers in the mornings and runs two development sessions in the afternoon. A learn-to-swim programme is also planned.

Coach of the new swim club, Carl Newman, says the focus is on swimming at the beach rather than pool racing.

“Different activities and skills are required,” he said.

“It’s predominantly freestyle-based and training for surf lifesaving pool events.”

The core group of swimmers are patrol-aged, and all of the elite squad are lifeguards, he says.

Newman has extensive experience in surf lifesaving coaching, having been head coach of Piha Surf Life Saving Club for seven years and coach of the under-20

New Zealand team at the 2012 world championships.

He’s at the Gisborne Boys’ High School pool, where the club is based, six days a week.

Bramwell said the swim club had come together quickly due to collaboration between Waikanae, Gisborne Boys’ High School and Comet Swimming Club.

They had hoped to be using the pool by Christmas but had swimmers in the pool by early November.

Comet had applied on their behalf for funding from New Zealand Community Trust (NZCT) and Trust Tairawhiti to cover the costs of pool heating and new shade sails.

It is the second time Waikanae have had a swim club. The first operated over a decade ago and without a formal coach.

With about 35 swimmers already attending training, the club has plans to expand even further. It caters for all ages and skill groups, and registrations are open to all members of the Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club.