Over ten years of planning is finally coming to fruition for Pete Coleborne as his swim school gets set to open its very own pool. Father to two sets of twins, Hannah and Sophie, four years, and six month old Albie and Sam, Pete admits he already has his hands full, but is ready to take on the challenges of a bigger swim school.
Pete Coleborne at his new pool site in Queanbeyan West.
“We will be able to offer 500 extra places a week. Everyone has a waiting list.. All the Queanbeyan swim schools are fully booked and people can’t get in, so hopefully we can ease some of that pressure” Pete said.
The Queanbeyan High School Alumn and the son of former Queanbeyan District Superintendent of Schools, Jim Coleborne, Pete has loved swimming since he was a child. He told us he even used to wag school with friends just to swim in the indoor pool that his parents added to their Munro Road home.
Artists impression of the finished pool.
Pete’s teenage antics in the Coleborne family pool would lead him some 20 years later to win the 2020 Austswims’ NSW and National Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety. Prior to his win he received an incredible amount of praise, with over 100 written endorsements from his students’ families.
“I did a lot of swimming before we even moved to Queanbeyan in the frosty Cooma pool, I made it to Regionals a few times and my older brother Matt and I competed in the swim club over there” Pete said.
After completing high school, Pete completed a B.A. in Psychology at the ANU and did a decade behind a desk at Defence in the Public Service. He eventually traded in his lanyard for budgie smugglers, moving to a full time swim instructor in 2016.
Framing for change rooms, shower blocks and disabled toilet.
Pete and wife Lisa have been on the hunt for the perfect location for their expansion ever since. They’ve finally settled on what would be their fourth option, after plans of taking over the former ‘Neptunes Haven’ building fell through last year. They now say the lengthy search has had the best possible result,
“The space is perfect here and we have a big lease, so hopefully we’ll be here for a really long time.. I’ve always wanted to grow it into something bigger and more professional than the home school, and now we can provide all the services here that I’ve always wanted to” Pete said.
The 20 metre prefabricated pool came delivered in pieces that were bolted together inside the facility, and made watertight with sealed fibreglass joins. The pool was built onsite to avoid digging up the pre-existing concrete slab and will feature wooden decked viewing platforms for parents and patrons.
Equipment plant room with supersized filters.
Pete describes the pool as a bigger and better version of his home facility with plenty of parking, more accessible change rooms and toilets, and the added feature of inbuilt water jets,
“I guess many teachers don’t have that knowledge of the inner workings of a pool that I’ve gained over the years. It’s pretty easy to maintain and the pool will be a combination of salt and magnesium which gets turned into chlorine but is much nicer on your skin” Pete said.
The 20 metre x 5 metre fibreglass and floor tiled pool.
Pete is excited that pool will provide unique services that the Queanbeyan community hasn’t had access to before,
“We are hoping to provide Aqua Aerobics, Squad Training, Water Polo, and an exciting new underwater game called Torpedo League that we’re developing. It’s a more advanced water game with a football. We will still have all the learn to swim to stuff, from babies, to pre-school, to school age, to older kids and adults and we’ve just hired some water polo players to help us develop a program for those kids that don’t want to do racing, but want to keep going with their swimming, so that will be a great option for them”
Pete said the pool will ready April 24th just in time for students to begin in Term 2,
“This is very exciting, it’s been a long time coming and it’s going to be so great for the community when it’s up and running”.
Find out more about Pete’s Swim School here
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