36 years swimming coach - Robbie Rae celebrates

It was double celebrations at the Violet Town swimming pool on Friday when Acquatics Recreation Victoria (ARV - VicSwim) celebrated 50 years and local Robbie Rae was recognised for more than 36 years as a teacher and coach. In between lessons, a special ‘jelly slice cake’ was cut and shared among the young kids and parents who were there for lessons and to share the occasion. It is obvious that Robbie Rae enjoys what she has done for the past 36 years and on Friday it was a celebration for her – especially for some families, as it has now been three generations taking part. “It is a milestone and great achievement to see the children being able to put their faces under the water for the first time, to see them progress in their confidence and skills, and then to see them a few years later on - it gives me the tingles,” she said. “When I see older children using good swim strokes; to see how they have progressed is beautiful and it gives me pleasure to know that I have had something to do with that." Looking around the pool there were several families attending that had three generations enjoying lessons and the day at the pool. The smile could not be kept off Robbie's face. ARV CEO Kathy Parton made the special trip up the highway from Melbourne to help with the double 'birthday party'. Ms Parton explained it is Aquatics Victoria which runs the VicSwim programs, but she was at Violet Town to congratulate Robbie - who has been a regional co-ordinator and teacher of the VicSwim program for more than 35 years. “This is an incredible effort, we are all proud of her,” Ms Parton said. The region Robbie coordinates includes the towns of Avenel, Nagambie, and Violet Town, which have required quite a few kilometres travelling between. Robbie Rae is one of two coordinators and teachers that have been with VicSwim for the longest time, according to Ms Parton. “The thing with Robbie is that she has been consistent over the past 35 years; she has not had a break over those years – quite an incredible commitment, and she is such a supporter of the program and continues to build the stability of the teaching workforce; (she) not only supports this region but other regions as well as she has been a coach to other coordinators." Robbie teachers about 60 students each week – aged from four years to 12. The summer VicSwim summer intensive program runs over three weeks in January with young swimmers having five days straight to learn the basics of water safety, self-confidence, and early swimming techniques. Classes are structured from level A to G with parents allocating their child to whatever level they feel is correct – that is from non-swimmers to those with some confidence. “The objectives of the program are to support children to swim, but also water safety education,” Ms Parton explained. “What we have found is that because this is an intensive swim program for five consecutive days, skill development is fast-tracked – normally when they go to swimming lessons they go once a week and it is much slower for children to build that confidence and capability - the VicSwim program is faster." Ms Parton has been in the role of CEO for seven years and every year has promised to come to Violet Town – so she has finally made it. She is head of administration for some 170 programs across the state and said it is always very busy times. The program is supported by State Government funding, which helps to keep the costs to families quite low and affordable. “Without the State Government funding we would not be able to keep the fees as low as we can,” Ms Parton said. “The majority of the venues running the VicSwim's intensive program are in regional Victoria – in pools like this one here at Violet Town – it is wonderful to be able to activate these pools,” Ms Parton said. Ms Parton did say that every year there was at least one disruption to the program in regional areas. “This year we have had fires and floods for the first two weeks, so hoping next (this) week there will be no disruptions and we can get back to normal.”