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One of Queensland’s most experienced and awarded swim centre operators Rackley Swimming has made its first entrance into NSW after taking over the management rights of the pool at 62 Market Street in the Sydney suburb of Smithfield.

From its beginnings as a single swim school in Burleigh Heads back in 1997, Rackley Swimming has grown to become one of South-east Queensland’s most popular aquatic training destinations employing over 1,000 staff with more than four million annual visitations across 34 facilities.

Thrilled to bring Rackley’s years of operational experience and award-winning teaching methods to NSW and heartened by the warm welcome of the local community, Rackley Swimming Managing Director, Jay Clarke advised “the community has been incredible, we commenced swim classes last Saturday 10 February and we had over 1,000 assessments booked for our opening week which is just incredible.

“We have met some amazing families this week, and they are so grateful to have a swim school that will cater to all ages, abilities and the various needs of the diverse ethnic groups within the community.”

Concerned at Australia rising drowning toll this summer, Clarke said drowning is the third-leading cause of accidental death, and with four in five children never undertaking swimming lessons, more widespread teaching of water safety skills is the key to bringing these numbers down.

He stated “in Smithfield we’ve welcomed a lot of families who have older children 10+ who are true non-swimmers. Sadly, we’ve heard stories that in other swim schools they were put into lessons with kids as young as 3 or 4.

“We know this can be damaging to self-esteem and confidence so we’ve adapted our levels to ensure these students (and adults) are able to learn alongside peers the same age to build their confidence as well as their skill.”

Clarke acknowledged the rich ethnic diversity in Smithfield with 11.4% of the community coming from Syria, 9.2% from Vietnam and 9% from Iraq. Of these, only 31% of those in this area speak English as the only language at home.

As a result, Rackley Swimming has employed a number of instructors from these backgrounds to contribute to more effective and culturally appropriate training.

Clarke noted “we recognise that migrants, especially those who come from landlocked countries or areas where swimming is unaffordable or seen as a luxury leisure activity, face a multitude of barriers that means they may not be as confident swimmers.

“Our incredibly diverse team of 19 swim instructors herald from a range of cultural backgrounds. More than half of our team are proud first or second Australian immigrants including Iraqi, Taiwanese, Malaysian, Bolivian, Fiji Indian, Indonesian, Laos-Thai and Turkish. But our multicultural team members all have one thing in common - they are passionate about saving lives by providing quality lessons which ensure confidence and safety within the pool at all times.

“We are taking steps to meet the cultural needs of the Smithfield community, primarily for our Muslim families, by creating women's only classes on a Friday. This initiative ensures women are provided the discretion they need in order to have the lesson they deserve. The diversity of our team has allowed for an additional connection with these students which often contributes to a more effective lesson.

“It’s never too early or too late to learn to swim and be safe in the water. We have swimming classes for every age from babies and toddlers all the way to adults. We have two fantastic heated indoor pools and best of all we operate all year round, including school holidays. We are not term based which allows us to offer an extensive time table to our customers, 7 days a week mornings through to evenings. Our program is very flexible with unlimited make-up classes as well as free infant classes, female only and adult learn to swim classes,” Mr Clarke concluded.

Since taking on the former Fin Aquatics facility, Rackley Swimming has made a number of upgrades to the facility - both aesthetic and customer comfort improvements. Further improvements are planned once additional evaluations take place to better understand what’s needed to ensure parents and students will enjoy each and every visit.

The centre is open seven days a week and provides two indoor heated pools consisting of a dedicated program pool plus a six Lane 25m pool.

While already operational, Rackley Swimming Smithfield will have a grand opening on Saturday 13th April with the local community invited to enjoy a fun filled day.

Click here for more information on Rackley’s Swimming Program.

Images: Swim lessons and members of the staff team at Rackley Swimming Smithfield. Credit: Rackley Swimming.

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