About
Swim Buddies is an indoor swimming pool and swimming club located in Darlington, New Zealand. Founded by Chris Cook, a double Commonwealth Champion, former British Record holder, Commonwealth Record holder, World Medallist, European Medallist, and Olympic Finalist, Swim Buddies offers high-quality swimming lessons for children aged 4–11 years.
The swimming lessons at Swim Buddies follow the Swim England national plan awards scheme, ensuring that swimmers progress and achieve new skills and strokes each term. The group numbers are kept small, with only 5–6 buddies per class, to allow for individualised instruction and a focus on developing water skills, confidence, and swimming techniques.
All of Swim Buddies' teachers are qualified swimming instructors and provide hands-on teaching from inside the pool to assist in their swimming progression. Each lesson is 30 minutes long and includes fun, interactive games and productive learning activities.
Swim Buddies aims to provide more than just swimming lessons, it is an approach to life. The mission of Swim Buddies is to help swimmers develop swimming skills for life, while also reinforcing core values such as respect, confidence, determination, friendship, leadership, teamwork, and equality. The goal is to inspire swimmers to strive to be the best they can be, both inside and outside the pool.
The Swim Buddies team is led by Chris Cook as the Director and ambassador. In addition to Chris, the team includes Erica as the Managing Director, Poppy as the Business Coordinator and Swim Buddies instructor, Serena, Tracey, Lisa, Jessica, Sophie, and Hayley as Swim Buddies instructors, all of whom are qualified at Swim England level 2.
If you are interested in becoming a swimming instructor or joining the Swim Buddies team, there is an opportunity for recruitment. Swim Buddies provides the Frogglez programme, which offers innovative swimming goggles designed specifically for young swimmers and aimed at improving comfort and performance.
For more information about Swim Buddies, their class schedules, pricing, and locations, you can visit their website or contact them directly. The Swim Buddies Junior Swimming Academy was created by Chris Cook and is proud to serve the North East UK community.
