Pool makes a splash

BY RICHARD EDMONDSON

If you made a list of community success stories in Kaikohe, the reopening of the swimming pool at Northland College this summer would be near the top.

About 5000 people have used the pool since the HUB – Helping You Benefit-Trust – took over its management in November after a $20,000 refit funded by the Far North District Council.

"It took eight weeks of 60 to 70-hour weeks just to get it open," says trust spokesman Leif Pakai.

"We saved $10,000 by scrubbing it out ourselves," says his wife Sarah.

It’s been a long time since the 45-year-old pool was open to the public for seven days a week, six months of the year, she says.

"We’re trying to get the community to take ownership of the pool again."

Reopening the pool has given bored youth a place to go, says Leif.

"There is a lack of structured activities for youth, especially 14-year-olds, during school holidays," he says.

Opening the pool to the public has brought the community together, including an elderly Ngawha man and youths who started to copy his fitness regime.

"Their paths wouldn’t have crossed, because these were little dudes that used to hang around town," says Sarah.

Organised activities at the pool include aqua dancing, gentle exercise classes and water safety sessions for children up to five years old.

"It gets parents in the water with their children to form that attachment," she says.

Leif and Sarah are keen to offer swimming lessons next summer if the council allows the trust to manage the pool again. "Our goal is to teach 500 children a year to swim for free," says Leif.

Managing the pool has also allowed them to offer pool safety training and paid employment to six local teenagers who work part time as lifeguards.

"The most exciting part is we are helping to create employment," says Sarah.

The couple has even helped lifeguards into their chosen careers, finding one a job at an early childhood centre and another work experience at Sport Northland.

"All lifeguards have a pathway to meet their greatest potential."

Another has left to train as a mechanic at NorthTec, while one plans to study business management at a university in Hawaii.

"We had to build a relationship with these people to see where they want to go and what their dreams are."

Leif and Sarah are proud of the standard of water quality monitoring and pool management the trust has maintained in the last six months.

"We have two more evaluations to go, then hopefully we will be accredited as a PoolSafe pool," says Leif.

Their goal is to obtain a long-term lease to manage the pool in partnership with the college and the council for six months of the year.

"All we want is to be given the chance to put in a tender for the contract.

"If we can do this pool, we’re pretty confident we can do other pools that are struggling."

- © Fairfax NZ News