Ballarat ‘Learn to Swim’ program school takes top AUSTSWIM honours

Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre (BALC) is celebrating after receiving a prestigious award.

BALC has been crowned winner of the ‘Victorian Swim Centre of the Year – Large' as part of the AUSTSWIM Awards of Excellence 2023.

The Awards of Excellence recognise outstanding accomplishments in the field and acknowledges individuals, swim centres and organisations for their contribution to aquatic education and water safety through leadership, innovation, and community spirit.  

City of Ballarat Director of Community Wellbeing Matthew Wilson said the award was a testament to all the hard work that had been done to attract incredibly talented staff to teach life-saving swimming skills.

“This award is a huge honour for our Swim School and reflects the outstanding outcomes our team has managed to achieve in the last 12 months amid nation-wide swim teacher shortages,” he said.

An effective recruitment drive at the end of 2022 saw more than 30 new swim teachers join the BALC Swim School team, helping to deliver over 400 classes each week to over 1500 students.

In addition, 37 schools from across the region participate in BALC’s ‘Learn to Swim’ program each year – just shy of 4,000 individual students.

“We are so proud of each and every one of our swim teachers in being able to deliver an amazing program to our local community,” Mr Wilson said.  

“We’ve had students come in that are afraid of water, having not been able to develop their swimming skills before, and with the right program and support, been able to participate in school swim sports, with great success.”

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said to be crowned the best swim school in Victoria was a huge achievement.

“We already have a high demand for our Learn to Swim program and to now receive an award like this shows how successful it is,” he said.

“We’re incredibly proud of the entire facility and now cross our fingers for the national finals.”

BALC is now a finalist for the 2023 National AUSTSWIM Awards, announced next month at a Gold Coast ceremony.

To learn more about the swim teacher recruitment drive, read the article in the latest edition of the ourballarat magazine.  

For more information about BALC’s ‘Learn to Swim’ program, visit the BALC website.