Swimming WA travelled to Morawa to host the second last weekend Regional Swim Clinics for the 23/24 summer season with experienced Gingin Superseals head coach Beck Foulkes-Taylor leading the way. With temperatures hitting 40°C by the start time of the clinics, there was no better place to be than in the water of this stunning 8-lane 50m pool. We had 24 attendees across two 90-minute clinics with Morawa and kids travelling from Geraldton to be there.
The junior clinic was run in the morning starting with some fun drills with hoops and streamers in the water. It was evident that the majority of these kids didn’t have high levels of confidence in the water so Foulkes-Taylor modified her plans to ensure what they were learning was relevant to their abilities. Kicking practice and straight arms in streamline was the first rounds of drills which proved difficult for some kids, but with Foulkes-Taylor's knowledge and encouragement, there was a marked improvement within a couple of minutes. The last 10-15mins of the clinic was spent on basic diving into the water with some young ones feeling brave enough to try from the blocks, something the home swim teacher told us was very rare.
The senior clinic in the afternoon started with a freestyle warmup with fins and pull buoys, something the home club didn’t typically utilise which instantly made the experience intriguing and different to what the participants were used to. With Foulkes-Taylor spending a fair bit of time working on their ‘pull’ through the water, the participants' arms were definitely getting a workout but the learnings they took away from it was invaluable. Diving practice concluded at the end of the clinic; with school carnivals and Country Pennants coming up within the next three weeks this practice was well-needed, with Foulkes-Taylor providing pointers to help be faster off the blocks.
Both the home coach and Morawa Pool Manager (also a Learn to Swim teacher) were able to have discussions with Foulkes-Taylor about how best to engage these young swimmers and get them more competent with their skills in the water. As a club that is purely participation-based, Morawa benefited from these discussions with a travelling coach and had more confidence that the notes they took would help them with the kids once we were gone and that is the full intention of the pool deck mentorship opportunity that came with every clinic this season.
A huge thank you again to the Shire of Morawa and the Morawa Swimming Club for helping make this weekend happen and as always to the Department of Local Government Sport & Cultural Industries for their continued support in allowing Swimming WA to visit our regions.
