Aquatic Centre gets into the spirit of giving the Christmas

Aquatic Centre staff are encouraging customers to get into the spirit of giving this holiday season. Aquatic Centre customers can upgrade to a ‘Hot Spot’ spa swim by donating a food item to the swimming facility’s in-house food bank.

Aquatic Centre Receptionist and appeal coordinator Katrina Allen says it has been a difficult year for lots of people in our community.

“Many would go without at this time of year without the help of organizations like the salvation Army, so we’re really pleased to support their efforts this Christmas.” All items donated are collected by the local Salvation Army and added to its Christmas appeal.

Colin Elstob, Aquatic Operations Manager

 

Ryan’s a Rising Star

Ryan Nixon is the most recent of an impressive number of Rotorua Aquatic Centre staff to have received accolades in the Daily Post.

The Sqim school tutor was featured as one of the newspaper’s Rising Stars’.

Aquatic Centre Operations Manager Colin Elstob says Ryan has been teaching children to swim at the Aquatic Centre for almost two years as part of the team delivering the award wining Unison Lake Safety Programme.

“Ryan has been a fantastic contributor at the Aquatic Centre and will be hard to replace when he leaves us at the end of this term to prepare for university. We are all really proud of his recognition as one of the Daily Post’s Young Achievers and wish him all the best for his studies.”

Aquatic Centre staff represented at world champs and ‘Chur Chur’

Aquatic centre Swim Tutor Leighton Warren, 17, has just returned from Budapest where he represented NZ in the World Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships. Leighton who fits his swim teaching around a punishing training schedule, travelled to Hungary with his mother as support, and competed in the Male 16-19 age group where he finished 22nd.

 

He says he was disappointed with his result. “To not achieve a personal best was gutting. On the positive side though, to get more international competition under my belt is a real bonus and my experiences in Hungary will be valuable heading into a busy summer racing season at home.”

Meanwhile, Swimsation mascot Spike took part in the “Chur Chur for Christchurch” concert at the Te Bgae Shopping Centre on Sunday.

The concert Earthquake and included a family day for local children. Spike handed out giveaways including free swims at the Aquatic Centre, stickers and stuffed toys as well as auctioning swimming lessons as part of a fundraising auction.

Colin Elstob, Aquatic Operations Manager

 

Swim instructor Jordan Retemeyer likes being in at the deep end

On top of his full-time work at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre he volunteers two or three times a week with St John.

His dedication to the ambulance service has been rewarded not only with recent qualification as an ambulance officer, but also a nomination as The Daily Post volunteer of the week.

“The last thing I want is recognition.” Mr Retemeyer said. “I do it for the character building and there’s an element of personal satisfaction.” When Mr Retemeyer, 21, was a child he said he always thought he’d become a firefighter or police officer.

 

The ambulance service. I thought was the most boring of the three. I’m not so sure now. “When I was at school I thought about going to uni and studying probably an excuse to go to uni with my mates.

“You have to do observer shifts before you become an auxiliary and when I did that I knew straight away [that I wanted to be a paramedic].” After starting out as a first aider, last December he was accepted to start studying towards becoming an ambulance officer. This means he can make his own clinical judgments.

He’s just qualified and enjoying the extra responsibility that brings. “It would be nice to be a paramedic but I want to see how good I am at this first,” he said. ‘I do two or three shifts a week on top of working full-time . I see it as a short-term sacrifice for a long-term goal.

“Everyone at the station has helped me go from strength to strength. They’ve all had a hand in what l’ve done and I’m really stoked at that.” He said he feels good about helping people when they’re at their most vulnerable and that he likes bouncing ideas off his colleagues when faced with tricky situations.

He’s now looking forward to building up his knowledge base before taking the next step in his ambulance career.

By Alison King, Daily Post