For kids who grow up on the coast of Australia, learning to swim is as much a cultural phenomenon as a survival skill.
Carlile began teaching swimming on Sydney’s northern beaches in 1946 while completing a master’s in science at the University of Sydney. The ASC estimates 3.9 million adults also hit the water that year – up 18 per cent – which can be partly attributed to a rise in the number of pools built specifically for training and competitions.
It isn’t just coaches who have invested in the learn-to-swim phenomenon: Olympians such as Emily Seebohm and Samantha Riley have launched swimming businesses or aquatic centres.“There’s a bunch of athletes who go from learn-to-swim through to competitive swimming and then a natural business for them is to move into owning swim schools or licensing swim schools,” Daly says.According to the ASSA, many swimming businesses are moneymakers and some even have waiting lists for entry.