Top coach warns of policy problems

Top coach warns of policy problems

10 June 2015

A MASTER swim coach has warned children will be at risk if Newry Mourne and Down Council pushes ahead with changes to private swimming lessons.

With 46 years of personal teaching experience, Donny Maguire believes swimming skills among the young will deteriorate if the council introduces higher charges in a bid to restrict private tuition in Downpatrick.

He was speaking in response to a council clamp-down on private swimming lessons at Down Leisure Centre, which includes a proposal to introduce an extra £4.85 door 

tax for children in addition to the normal entrance fee of £2.15 per child and £1 for each spectating adult.

This means a parent or guardian will have to pay the council £8 to access the swimming pool for a private lesson before paying the tutor’s fee.

Mr Maguire believes such costs will not only deter families from accessing swimming lessons, but will also put potential instructors off the expensive training needed to be a swim teacher because of the restricted opportunities upon qualification.

So passionate is he about the importance of easy access to swimming lessons that Mr Maguire co-founded the Downpatrick School of Lifesaving in 1968, which has lengthy waiting lists due to its popularity.

As the school summer holidays approach and rivers and coastline provide a playground for the young, he fears lives will be put at increased risk if the clamp-down on private lessons proceeds.

He said the proposal, and a recent council decision to ban private group lessons in Downpatrick, was baffling due to the huge demand for swimming instruction which means both the council and private instructors are unable to cater for the demand and therefore operate lengthy waiting lists. 

“I disagree with this proposal for several reasons. Firstly, this will affect everybody because of the waiting lists that already exist,” he said.

“Also it costs a lot to qualify as a swimming teacher and if teachers face reduced rates or additional costs at the end they will not be inclined to train.

“This will affect the quality of tutors in the future. It is so important to have a wide variety of options.

“Swimming is so important. Swimming has come first because if a child, or even an adult, falls in the water they have to know how to keep themselves up.

“This is the time of year that children are attracted to the water. This is the time of year most accidents happen.

“I think the council should think well about this before it makes any final decision.”