New swimming instructors for regional WA

Two Aboriginal women recently completed their Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety qualifications in Newman, and will become a great asset in regional WA where swimming instructors are in short supply.

Jennifer and Chelsea come from the Jigalong community, where Royal Life Saving Society has a Remote Aboriginal Swimming Pool. The pair had previously completed their Bronze Medallion and wanted to take their swimming education a step further by completing the training necessary to be employed as a qualified swim instructor.

The pair completed the AUSTSWIM Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety course, taught by Diane McDermott a community trainer from Perth, with assistance from Tracye Sykes, the Remote Pool Manager from Jigalong and Sam Dalton, Jigalong school teacher, who assisted with the language barriers due to the fact English 
is Jennifer and Chelsea's second language, and they predominantly speak their native Matu language.

Diane says "the girls were amazing, they were very quiet in class but in the water I only had to show them skills once and they picked it up unbelievably. Their journey will be amazing and I look forward to seeing them teaching people from their own community."

The women's participation in the course was made possible through support from the Royal Life Saving Society WA Swim and Survive Fund. The fund is designed to ensure all West Australians have an opportunity to learn to Swim and Survive, irrespective of their culture, location or socioeconomic status.

More details about the impact of the program are available here:

Water Safety Skills For All

Supporting At-Risk Communities