Since the Shapland Swim School at Sinnamon Park opened in January 2000 Pamela has kept an accurate record of the reported aquatic accidents children have had. They include situations where they fell into a body of water and the children used the skills they learned at the swim school to not panic, and automatically turn around and grab the side of the pool/river bank/rock wall and hold on till help came. Each child is given a Hero Certificate to record the event.
The Shapland Story starts in Toowoomba in the late 1930’s when Thomas Shapland was teaching swimming on a voluntary basis at the Toowoomba Municipal Baths. Thomas formed the Saturday Morning Club in order to introduce the children and youth of the town to the joys of being able to swim. Thomas was a strong swimmer and started out in life as a mariner.
Chris, who turned 56 in 2003 is a living example of how being able to swim is a life long life saving skill when he won the Australian men’s 55-59 rescue tube at the 2003 Australian Surf Titles at Kurrawa beach.
Did you know that Freestyle is really the name of a swimming race? In a Freestyle race you are able to, provided you let the referee or swim meet director know which stroke you are going to perform in the race, swim any stroke. FINA RULE:- SW 5.1 Freestyle means that in an event so …
On September the 19th 2016 Chris Shapland became the second oldest Australian and the fifth oldest all time to swim across the English Channel. Whilst doing the swim has been a life long dream Chris really did the swim to show that if you have a sound swimming technique swimming is something you can do …
Lucas Shapland is a fourth generation swimming teacher who runs the Moorooka location. Check out this great video he put together of some of the learn to swim students showing off their Personal Aquatic Survival Skills.
According to the Royal Life Saving Society – Australia annual reportst for every one death by drowning, there are several near-deaths by drowning. Unfortunately, statistics on near-deaths by drowning are difficult to find. There seems to be little research done in this area. I did read in a Canadian report that there are six near-deaths …
Recently, Karen Ghidella from KidsToDo.com.au visited one of our swim school locations and experienced a typical swimming lesson for her twin boys with Chris Shapland. She has written a review and posted it on the Kids To Do website so everyone can share in her experience. The blog post includes a fantastic video that Karen …
If you can’t get your ideal time when you first make contact with your local Shapland Swim School then this article should help you understand why. It is our guarantee to our clients that the maximum number of pupils in your child’s class will be three and the maximum number of classes in the pool …
In order to understand what is happening with your child’s Personal Aquatic Survival Skills development you need to know what was in my head when we started to franchise out what my family had been doing since 1947. My philosophy since 1992 has been to supply affordable semi-private swimming lessons in a pool and surrounds …