Manukau celebrates success of Community Swim programme - Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation

The cornerstone project of the John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation, launched back in May 2008 by Manukau Mayor Len Brown, has gained national recognition.

Community Swim, the ground-breaking initiative that provides FREE lessons to year 3 and 4 pupils in Manukau, won the ‘Project Collaboration Award’ at the 2010 New Zealand Sport and Recreation (SPARC) Sector Awards.

A partnership between Manukau Leisure, the John Walker Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation, and with the support of Manukau City Council, Community Swim last year provided seven free swimming lessons to 8,500 year 3 & 4 students across 70 Manukau schools. In addition to the free swimming lessons, Community Swim also provides free transport to and from school in one of four buses funded by The Lion Foundation.

This year the programme has been extended to include year 5 students and in Term One another 3,342 pupils received 23,394 free swimming lessons.

As a result of the Community Swim initiative some swim clubs in Manukau are reporting a 20% increase in youth membership this year. Feedback from schools is also very positive with many indicating truancy is greatly reduced on the days pupils are involved in the swim programme.