THREE members of Aqua Stars Swimming Club near Holsworthy have recently become qualified instructors.

When Aqua Stars moved from the old premises at Thornbury to the new purposely-built premises at Ruby Oak Park, they were lucky in that the teaching staff were not only able to move with them but to build on their employment status and work full-time at the venue.

As the school has flourished and grown, teaching assistants have been needed to support the instructors and these are usually some of the older swimmers that are happy and willing to assist in the teaching of groups and maintenance of the changing rooms, café area and pool side.

However, the time had come where by new teachers were required, this was to enable additional courses to be ran and to cover maternity leave for one of the longer serving instructors.

Within the clubs and services offered at the pool, there is a lifesaving club, which has been running at Ruby Oak Park for four years and during that time has trained young people from the age of 12 in the skills of lifesaving, swimming and first aid and in the soft skills of leadership, communication, team work and planning. The club had already ran an RLSS lifeguard course to enable two of the older members to work as lifeguards at the pool, and when it was identified that instructors would be needed, the head coach offered three of their older members, Laura Priest, Emma Knight and Emma Quance (pictured), as candidates.

The club ran an RLSS rookie instructor course which built on the young leader and assistant instructor qualifications that the group had already attended. A Swimming Teachers Association (STA) course was identified and the group travelled to Crediton to ensure the in-house taught skills were coupled with industry best practice and a further set of nationally recognised qualifications.

The three lifesaving club members begin their aquatic teaching careers in January with their own groups for the swimming and lifesaving, paired with the responsibility for lifeguarding.

Laura Morrish, Ruby Oak director, said she was very impressed with the skills and approach that the young team were showing. By being able to employ local people that had grown up in the club structure, she was sure that the new members would fit seamlessly into the team at Ruby Oak.

Aqua Stars head coach, Andy Squirrell, said: “It’s been great seeing hard work that we’ve put in at the club transition into local employment with skills and qualifications for life.”

The lifesaving club runs on a Friday evening at Ruby Oak Park, Holsworthy from 6.30pm to 7.30pm, and the group get to take part in competitions, lifesaving forums and even provide first aid cover at musical events.

More information on Ruby Oak Park and the lifesaving club, visit www.swimaquastars.co.uk