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When Oliver (4) and Amy (4) attended the half term crash course at Shirley Pool, they expected to be working on their strokes and diving practices. Four days later they produced a remarkable swim.
Little Amy Davies and Oliver Dunne started swimming lessons at 4 months, together. Now they have swum a mile in one attempt, together.
64 lengths of the 25m Shirley Pool in just over an hour. Most adults would be pleased to swim a mile. They will both be 5 in the summer!
Using backstroke and frontcrawl the duo stunned their parents and teachers as they completed the marathon swim – then played in the water for an hour!
The remarkable achievement is believed to be a first for children so young. Pool manager Chris White:
“ We have had plenty of 5 and 6 year old children swimming a mile, but this is a first. Back in the seventies the pool used to make headlines when the 3 year olds swum a length. It just shows how much teaching techniques have advanced”
“ The methods have been developed since the swim school opened in 1974, borrowing techniques used in the States and Australia and based on the ASA National teaching plan, breaking down the strokes into simple modules. Children of this age are a joy to teach, they are fearless!”
Oliver and Amys parents were delighted with the pool and their teachers. Mrs Davies said
” The teacher here are so lovely, Amy just adores Phil. We had to move to London recently but have come back just for this crash course. We couldn't find anywhere as good as Shirley”
Mrs Dunne “ Oliver loves swimming. His most recent teachers Chris & Luke have been great with him. Being in the water with for the lesson makes a huge difference”. |
