Partners
On Tuesday the 27th of June at the Hyatt Regency Perth, LIWA Aquatics hosted the 2nd Annual WA Aquatic Recreation Industry Awards.
The WA Aquatic Recreation Industry Awards are designed to highlight and award excellence of Individuals within the aquatic recreation industry, Aquatic Facilities, their staff and organisations and provide an opportunity to formally recognize their commitment to improving aquatic recreation communities, programs, facility operations, management and safety.
The awards commenced with Robyn Collard and her grandson Tryse Rioli performing a wonderful Welcome to Country. We were fortunate to have the Hon David Templeman MLA Minister for Culture and the Arts; Sport and Recreation; International Education; Heritage officially opens the awards event and grace us with a story about one of his favorite memories of summertime swims at the local regional pool that he frequented as a kid.
The award presentation started with the ORGANISATIONAL AWARDS.
Armadale Fitness and Aquatic Centre won an astonishing four of the organisational awards, which included the following:
Congratulations Armadale Fitness & Aquatic Centre and the City of Armadale.
The Community Impact Award was claimed by a regional council; Town of Port Headland with the Summer Free Entry Program which was implemented across their 2 Aquatic Centres- the South Hedland Aquatic Centre and Gratwick Aquatic Centre.
The final organisation award to be presented was the Swim School of the Year award. This was awarded to Wanneroo Aquamotion Swim School from the City of Wanneroo for their creation of delivery of a diverse program and accessibility changes made to accommodate all abilities in their program.
After a short intermission and breakfast, it was into the INDIVIDUAL AWARDS.
The winner of The Pool Lifeguard of the Year was presented to John Everitt from HBF Arena.
John is well respected by his colleagues, customers, and line of management, all of whom appreciate his attention to detail, his management of the pools he is supervising, and his genuine approach to customer service.
The Swim Teacher of the Year Award was awarded Louise Scott from Beatty Park Leisure (Town of Vincent). Louise is always making her students feel welcome, important, and special. Louise is creative and adaptable to everyone’s needs, whilst setting realistic goals for students to achieve through encouragement, nurturing and guidance.
The Aquatic Technical Operator Awards (Metro and Regional) were sponsored by International Quadratics. This year’s award winner for the Aquatic Technical Operator Regional Award went to Stephen Waterman from the Warmun Community Pool. Unfortunately, Stephen was unable to attend the awards but will be presented later.
The Aquatic Technical Operator Metropolitan Award was awarded to Isabel Franzoni from HBF Arena for her mentoring role with new and junior staff instilling a sense of belonging and responsibility. She has been instrumental in developing professional development for lifeguards aligned with requal requirements.
The Emerging Leader of the Year Award was presented to Jordan Caffery from Armadale Fitness and Aquatic Centre. Jordans ability to lead by example, a strong work ethic and a willingness to take on extra responsibilities. Jordan demonstrates a hands on-approach with her team and proactively responds to issues as they arise to provide additional support and leadership.
The final and most prestigious award to be presented was the Smith Robertson Award, named after two of the founding members of LIWA Aquatics, Fred Smith and John Robertson for their outstanding contributions to the Aquatics Industry that helped create it to be what it is today. Sadly, earlier this year John “Robbo” Robertson passed away, but we were fortunate to have Fred Smith attend the breakfast awards to support the work of LIWA Aquatics and to share in the excitement of the awards.
This year the Smith Robertson Award was awarded to Leanne Coverley-Brandis who has worked all over WA in a variety of different roles in the aquatics industry over the last 40 years. She has been instrumental in the training of over 10,000 course participants in a variety fo courses. She is still very active in the industry and is currently working for Royal Life Saving Society WA in
Congratulations to the following individuals and organisations that received High Commendations:
Ally Holdcroft – Swim Teacher of the Year Finalist
Jessica Fennel – Emerging Leader of the Year Finalist
Cockburn ARC (City of Cockburn) – Aquatic Facility Safety Award Finalist
Terry Tyzack (City of Stirling) - Aquatic Facility Safety Award Finalist
Thank you and congratulations to the following individuals who received their industry services awards-
Anna Jamieson – 10 Years
Alexander Parker – 10 Years
Michael Gosatti – 20 Years
Joanne Pedley – 40 Years
David Parish – 45 Years
Other than the WA Aquatic Recreation Industry Awards we were also able to acknowledge and award the following individuals and Aquatic Centre’s.
Newly Endorsed Waterwise Aquatic Centre’s by Water Corporation:
At the Waterwise awards, held by Water Corporation in June Albany Leisure & Aquatic Centre - City of Albany and Kwinana Recquatic – City of Kwinana were awarded Platinum Waterwise Councils of the Year. Well done to them.
Thank you to the following sponsors and supporters of the event, Mick Colliss who was the fantastic MC driving the event, the Department of Local Government; Sport; and Cultural Industries, and Water Corporation, Royal Life Saving Society WA, and International Quadratics. Also, it is very important to acknowledge and thank the judging panels that decided on all award winners and lastly the mastermind behind the awards, Steve Good with the support of the LIWA Aquatics Board.
We look forward to seeing what next year’s event brings.