November 4, 2025 • 6 mins
State Swim CEO Greg Reece dropped in to the studio to discuss swimming and water safety. Lisa was suprised that older people are less capable of swimming. Russell asked what kind of programs state swim have on offer. Tune in for the full chat.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
We all remember this jingle and the man who is
the CEO of State Swim is Greg Reece, and he
joins Lisa and I in the studio. Now, good morning, Greg, morning.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
If you had a dollar for every time you've heard
that so Greg, we did recently learn that Dudley Way
has the worst drownding statistics in the country. You must
find that statistic horrifying.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Absolutely agree and versy. Thank you for bringing to attention.
I think using this as a platform to bring awareness
is fantastic. Yes, it is a worrying stat and bringing
it to front of mind, particularly coming into summer, is great.
The problem is that it's not a single demographic. Nice
to come from a range of areas well.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I was surprised at the demographic being more older people. Yes,
I thought they're the ones that would have it, you
know done years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah exactly, that would have done State Swim all through
their lives and sung along to that jingle and done
the you know, done all the programs and correct. Does
it seem that we forget perhaps perhaps people.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Have missed out on that opportunity as well though, And
you know that's why we do have an adults program
that we're continuously looking to grow and extend to offer
that for people that may have missed that opportunity earlier on. Yeah,
but yeah, the stats are certainly worrying a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm sorry, I was going to say a lot of
people might think that State Swim is just for kids,
but it is for adults too.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yes. Yeah, kids make up the majority of our numbers,
of course, but we do offer adults program as well.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So what kind of programs you know, you say it's
for all ages, but what specifically kind of programs does
State Swim offer for those interested in taking it up?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah? Sure, So our core program is obviously, I learned
to swim, and that's our goal there is to get
kids to swim or anyone partaking in that program to
swim four hundred meters. We see that as a benchmark
of both safety and confidence, and they'll give them confidence
in the water to undertake all aquatic activities that we
see in Australia. So that's our core program. Outside of that,
(02:06):
we also have teams or squads, and that's people that
want to extend for fitness and continue to develop their
stroke adults. As I mentioned, we have programs dedicated to adults,
and then we have holiday programs with our swim back
so we have their more intensive program five days of
intense where we see kids can progress quite quickly in
that intensive period. And then we work with in the
(02:27):
school sector as well, so we offer intern programs. We
work with both private and government schools where other Department
of Education will come in and use our facilities to
offer those programs, or we will offer our program to
more often the private sector. So quite a range of
various activities and programs to try to get a broad
(02:48):
reach in what we do.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
When we spoke to Lauren from the Royal Life Saving
wa the other day, she talked about the importance of
knowing the difference between knowing how to swim and having
water safety skills and how they're two different things. Would
you agree with that and does State Swim sort of
acknowledge that difference.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yes, absolutely, they're all laugh. I think they have a
metric around fifty meters and two minutes of floating as
their measure for safety, and we take that, but we
also look to extend that. That's why our extends further
to four hundred meters. We think that four hundred meters
gives you also confidence. We don't want you just to
be safe in the water. We want you to be
confident in the water scene and undertake activities. So absolutely
(03:30):
having those metrics is a good way of measuring and
we extend that further.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
It was reported and we spoke to the Education Minister
about this yesterday, had been reported that there was a
shortage recently in swimming instructors. Has that improved or is
it still a concern for you? How are you sort
of handling that obstacle.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yes, across the industry. You know, the people that I
talked to that are also in the industry struggling continue
to struggle. There is a shortage and it's a casual workforce,
so to juggling rosters, juggling diaries to fit, it adds
to that complex challenge. We're fortunate it states from that
our instructors, you know that they're fantastic. They're magnificent. They
turn up with great purpose and intent every day. They
(04:15):
love what they do, They understand the impact it makes
to families, and so we have a great culture and
so we tend to attract good staff, which is really fantastic.
But notwithstanding that, we still have the problem of recruitment,
and we have an ongoing program to try track and
maintain that talent. So it's an ongoing issue.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
What do you find is the sort of the barriers
that people say are stopping them from from learning to swim?
It is it fear, is it geography, access, cost, cost,
It's a range.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It's probably those things. Yes, certainly access. We seem to
have a belief that people don't like to travel too
far to get to a swiming lesson, so having that
access to pools and facilities is critical, okay. And then
the secondly, of course, as we just discussed there, you
need to staff. That's no point having the facility. You
need to be able to staff these facilities. So that's
(05:06):
from the supply side, and I guess from the demand
side there are competing interests. There's cost pressures that all
way into why people may not be taking it up,
and we are seeing this drop in participation.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Having to make choices exactly what the money gets spent on.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, So the government I did have a sort of
a they were investing some money into it. There was
a subsidizing I guess is that still ongoing for you guys.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
The government did run I think they're swim back program
subsidized and they also offer sports Active Kids sports vouchers,
So those two elements are continuing, certainly sports vouchers so
and we do accept people with sports vouchers. That's particular
families that may be struggling a bit more. So they
are continuing. They did have a subsidized swim back program
(06:00):
that that I think booked out pretty quickly and was
restricted around facilities and instructor.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So there were those constraints. Unfortunately that still came came
into play. So I guess it's a it's a it's
a matter of getting in as early as you can, really,
isn't it Looking in as early and now is a
good time.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
All the heat hits, this is when we see that
the increase in risk and increase in drowning, So right
before summers the perfect time to get back in and
get the kids into into programs.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I'm just having a look at the website now. It's
very comprehensive and you're all over the place, so I
suggest people have a look at stateswim dot com, dot AU.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Thank
you and helping us just you know, not raise awareness,
but remind people to be aware of, you know what,
we're girt by sea. We've got to be able.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
To say, not taking into account the rivers and the
pools and the dams exactly exactly we all like to
jump into.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We live in the water because it's hot, we do.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Thanks Greg, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Greg
We all remember this jingle and the man who is
the CEO of State Swim is Greg Reece, and he
joins Lisa and I in the studio. Now, good morning, Greg, morning.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
If you had a dollar for every time you've heard
that so Greg, we did recently learn that Dudley Way
has the worst drownding statistics in the country. You must
find that statistic horrifying.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Absolutely agree and versy. Thank you for bringing to attention.
I think using this as a platform to bring awareness
is fantastic. Yes, it is a worrying stat and bringing
it to front of mind, particularly coming into summer, is great.
The problem is that it's not a single demographic. Nice
to come from a range of areas well.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
I was surprised at the demographic being more older people. Yes,
I thought they're the ones that would have it, you
know done years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah exactly, that would have done State Swim all through
their lives and sung along to that jingle and done
the you know, done all the programs and correct. Does
it seem that we forget perhaps perhaps people.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Have missed out on that opportunity as well though, And
you know that's why we do have an adults program
that we're continuously looking to grow and extend to offer
that for people that may have missed that opportunity earlier on. Yeah,
but yeah, the stats are certainly worrying a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I'm sorry, I was going to say a lot of
people might think that State Swim is just for kids,
but it is for adults too.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yes. Yeah, kids make up the majority of our numbers,
of course, but we do offer adults program as well.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So what kind of programs you know, you say it's
for all ages, but what specifically kind of programs does
State Swim offer for those interested in taking it up?
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Yeah? Sure, So our core program is obviously, I learned
to swim, and that's our goal there is to get
kids to swim or anyone partaking in that program to
swim four hundred meters. We see that as a benchmark
of both safety and confidence, and they'll give them confidence
in the water to undertake all aquatic activities that we
see in Australia. So that's our core program. Outside of that,
(02:06):
we also have teams or squads, and that's people that
want to extend for fitness and continue to develop their
stroke adults. As I mentioned, we have programs dedicated to adults,
and then we have holiday programs with our swim back
so we have their more intensive program five days of
intense where we see kids can progress quite quickly in
that intensive period. And then we work with in the
(02:27):
school sector as well, so we offer intern programs. We
work with both private and government schools where other Department
of Education will come in and use our facilities to
offer those programs, or we will offer our program to
more often the private sector. So quite a range of
various activities and programs to try to get a broad
(02:48):
reach in what we do.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
When we spoke to Lauren from the Royal Life Saving
wa the other day, she talked about the importance of
knowing the difference between knowing how to swim and having
water safety skills and how they're two different things. Would
you agree with that and does State Swim sort of
acknowledge that difference.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Yes, absolutely, they're all laugh. I think they have a
metric around fifty meters and two minutes of floating as
their measure for safety, and we take that, but we
also look to extend that. That's why our extends further
to four hundred meters. We think that four hundred meters
gives you also confidence. We don't want you just to
be safe in the water. We want you to be
confident in the water scene and undertake activities. So absolutely
(03:30):
having those metrics is a good way of measuring and
we extend that further.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
It was reported and we spoke to the Education Minister
about this yesterday, had been reported that there was a
shortage recently in swimming instructors. Has that improved or is
it still a concern for you? How are you sort
of handling that obstacle.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yes, across the industry. You know, the people that I
talked to that are also in the industry struggling continue
to struggle. There is a shortage and it's a casual workforce,
so to juggling rosters, juggling diaries to fit, it adds
to that complex challenge. We're fortunate it states from that
our instructors, you know that they're fantastic. They're magnificent. They
turn up with great purpose and intent every day. They
(04:15):
love what they do, They understand the impact it makes
to families, and so we have a great culture and
so we tend to attract good staff, which is really fantastic.
But notwithstanding that, we still have the problem of recruitment,
and we have an ongoing program to try track and
maintain that talent. So it's an ongoing issue.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
What do you find is the sort of the barriers
that people say are stopping them from from learning to swim?
It is it fear, is it geography, access, cost, cost,
It's a range.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
It's probably those things. Yes, certainly access. We seem to
have a belief that people don't like to travel too
far to get to a swiming lesson, so having that
access to pools and facilities is critical, okay. And then
the secondly, of course, as we just discussed there, you
need to staff. That's no point having the facility. You
need to be able to staff these facilities. So that's
(05:06):
from the supply side, and I guess from the demand
side there are competing interests. There's cost pressures that all
way into why people may not be taking it up,
and we are seeing this drop in participation.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Having to make choices exactly what the money gets spent on.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, So the government I did have a sort of
a they were investing some money into it. There was
a subsidizing I guess is that still ongoing for you guys.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
The government did run I think they're swim back program
subsidized and they also offer sports Active Kids sports vouchers,
So those two elements are continuing, certainly sports vouchers so
and we do accept people with sports vouchers. That's particular
families that may be struggling a bit more. So they
are continuing. They did have a subsidized swim back program
(06:00):
that that I think booked out pretty quickly and was
restricted around facilities and instructor.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So there were those constraints. Unfortunately that still came came
into play. So I guess it's a it's a it's
a matter of getting in as early as you can, really,
isn't it Looking in as early and now is a
good time.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
All the heat hits, this is when we see that
the increase in risk and increase in drowning, So right
before summers the perfect time to get back in and
get the kids into into programs.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I'm just having a look at the website now. It's
very comprehensive and you're all over the place, so I
suggest people have a look at stateswim dot com, dot AU.
Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Thank
you and helping us just you know, not raise awareness,
but remind people to be aware of, you know what,
we're girt by sea. We've got to be able.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
To say, not taking into account the rivers and the
pools and the dams exactly exactly we all like to
jump into.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
We live in the water because it's hot, we do.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Thanks Greg, Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
Greg
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