Narelle & Simon – Owners

Narelle started her love of swimming at the age of 5 years. As a child she was put into the vocational Swim program during the school holidays.

Within a few years she was competing at Club level locally. She competed at Carnivals at many venues in NSW.

Many years later she joined Aussie Masters Swimming and raced with the Port Macquarie Club for 8 years. She took up Ocean swimming in 2008 and continued challenging herself in events including the Byron Bay Ocean Swim.

Her children attended the Surf Life saving program in Port Macquarie. Narelle noticed that being safe in water doesn’t happen naturally. Skills and knowledge need to be learnt. Narelle observed this and wanted to find out more about teaching children to swim. She started with school aged children where she found that the smallest amount of encouragement and some skill meant that a child could begin to enjoy the swimming experience.

Narelle progressed to teaching infant and parent programs, giving parents the necessary knowledge and skills and showing them how to teach their children. This was a very rewarding experience.

Narelle further qualified in competitive strokes and now has many hours of teaching experience at squad levels. She has also taught school swimming from Kindergarten to Year 10.

Narelle’s passion for teaching extended further into Adults.

“One of my greatest challenges was teaching an 80-year-old to swim. She said it was on her ‘bucket list’ of things to achieve as she had been afraid of water all her life. I awarded her 25 metres freestyle and 25 metres backstroke, and she was thrilled. She did all the hard work, but I gave her skills, knowledge and confidence to achieve it”.

Narelle is passionate about swimming. She wants all members of the community to be part of the swimming experience. She runs the Swim school with her husband Simon.

Simon has a Pool Operator Licence.  At the Swim Centre he ensures all swimmers enter the water at the right temperature, the right Ph and that all chemical statistics are keep up to the minute correct.

Simon heads up a team of Front Office staff, ensuring our families have a very good service from the moment they arrive.