PROGRAMS | SWS Copy

Learn to Swim

At Speed with Style, our program has been developed by John Williams, an elite pool and open water swimmer, together with Dr Nigel Williams, whose background in psychology ensures that our lessons are fun, engaging, and designed to establish the correct neural pathways for swimming as quickly as possible.

We describe ourselves as a “learn to swim properly” swim school — not simply a “learn not to drown” swim school.

What’s the difference?

From Day 1, we teach correct technique.

Our expert instructors (see our first page for more information about instructor quality) actively guide each child toward becoming a safe, efficient swimmer as quickly as possible.

Common Technical Issues We See

We often find that children coming from other swim schools share similar technical problems, including:

Poor body position — the child is not flat in the water and is effectively “dragging” their body through it.
Head position too high — often breathing forward instead of to the side, and for an extended period. This almost brings the swimmer to a stop and further disrupts body position.
Freestyle crossover — the arms cross in front of the body during the stroke, causing instability and reducing pulling efficiency.

These are just some of the most common issues we observe. They make swimming harder and far less efficient.

We are practical in our approach. Our goal is simple: to help your child become a safe, efficient swimmer as quickly as possible — while still having fun.

If your child is currently at another swim school, take a moment to observe how they are being taught. If these core technical elements are not being addressed or corrected, contact us for a free trial.

These are only the main things we notice and it makes swimming inefficient and harder. We are just pragmatists we want your children to become safe and effcient swimmers as quickly as possible whilst having fun!

If you are at another swim school at the moment have a look at how your child is being taught, if any of the main points above are not being taught or rectified you may want to call us for a free trial!

We also ensure:

Maximum of 4 children per class — guaranteed.
More than four becomes crowd control and reduces the effectiveness of instruction.
No level system.
We have deliberately chosen not to use traditional levels. In our experience, children often get “stuck” in levels, which can slow progress and become demoralising. Our approach allows swimmers to progress continuously and individually. (See our blog for more information on why this system is more effective.)

If this sounds like the swim school for you please contact Leesa on 0409898232, for a free trial so you can see the difference.

Pre-Squad

Pre-Squad is designed as the next step in your child’s swimming journey as they transition from our Learn to Swim program.

Many people assume this is purely a pathway into competitive swimming — this is not the case.

Once your child has developed good technique in Freestyle, Backstroke and Breaststroke, they can often swim around 200m continuously. While this is a great achievement, we do not consider it enough to ensure strong, confident water safety.

The next stage is Pre-Squad. This program is designed to further develop your child’s swimming ability by:

Making it enjoyable. Our sessions are fun and engaging while still developing skills — it is not just swimming up and down the pool.
Building fitness progressively. Swimmers cover between 600m and 1km per 45-minute session.
Maintaining strong technique. Fitness is built without sacrificing technique. This is crucial. In many programs, once children move into squad training, the focus shifts heavily to distance. As fatigue sets in, technique often collapses, leading to inefficient habits that can be difficult to correct later.
Developing advanced skills, including diving from blocks and other higher-level swimming skills.

Pre-Squad builds a strong foundation and gives swimmers options as they progress. After completing Pre-Squad, swimmers may choose to:

Swim for fun and fitness, with strong, efficient technique.
Use our squad program as cross-training and recovery for their main sport — whether that’s football, basketball, soccer, water polo or another activity.
Enter our competitive pathway and potentially join our Celts Swimming Club.

Whatever path they choose, our goal is that they develop — or maintain — a lifelong love of swimming.

And that can only be a good thing.

Squad

Why are so many parents wary of putting their children into a squad?

In our experience, many squads focus heavily on high training volume, with limited technical feedback and drills that are not always clearly explained. It’s also not uncommon for the squad environment to feel overly intense or lacking in positivity and support.

This high-volume approach — particularly with young athletes — can lead to burnout and overuse injuries, especially when technique is not correct.

The result of this “standard” approach is that swimmers often get faster because they are fitter, not because they are more efficient. Some children cope well with this regime, but many become burnt out or injured — and often lose their love of swimming altogether.

We do not believe this outcome is necessary.

Our Squads Are Different

Our squad program has been designed by Head Coach J.J. Williams, in conjunction with Dr Nigel Williams.

J.J. has an extensive and successful background in swimming, as well as experience as a national-level surf lifesaving Ironman. Nigel has a background in psychology, with a particular interest in motivation in sport. Together, they have developed a squad program that is:

Fun and engaging — not just staring at the black line.
Focused on skill acquisition to maximise efficiency, while steadily building fitness.
Process-oriented. We prioritise developing the right skills and habits first — speed follows naturally. While times matter, they are not our primary focus. Building the process that leads to speed and efficiency is.
Challenging but not overwhelming. We aim to keep swimmers in the “sweet spot” where progress and enjoyment are both maximised.
Inclusive. We welcome swimmers who train for fun and fitness, those supporting other sports such as football, soccer, basketball or water polo, and those who wish to compete with our Celts Swimming Club.
Flexible. Competition is not compulsory, and there is no minimum number of sessions required. For competitive swimmers, we will sit down with you, discuss your goals, and recommend targeted sessions to help you reach them. Up to 11 sessions per week are available.
Supportive. Our coaches do not yell — they encourage, guide and challenge swimmers positively.

Do Speed with Style squad members swim slow?

Absolutely not.

We have many State and National-level swimmers. Most of our athletes achieve fast times through refined technique and strong processes — not extreme training volume.

We have helped revive State and National-level swimmers who were previously burnt out or had plateaued at other squads. One former State swimmer even joined us simply to swim for fitness, saying, “I will never compete again.”

They are now competing again — and enjoying it.

Call Ross on 0422734629 for more details and to book a free squad session