PARKSIDE resident, Thomas Jordaan, who has been giving swimming lessons to people in the Bay for the past 25 years from his backyard, hopes to continue impacting his community and encouraging many others to master the art of swimming after the Coronavirus pandemic has passed.
Jordaan, the founder and owner of Tommy’s Swim School, the first of its kind in the Northern Areas, teaches both children and adults in his indoor heated swimming pool.
He said when he started the swimming school it was not to make money, but instead it was a way of passing on his swimming skills to people in his community; It was also a project for him to take on once he retired from his job at Xerox printing company.
“I always wanted to start a swimming school in my area, but I had to save up money to start my business which I could only do once my children completed their education,” he said.
Despite working full-time when he first started his swimming school, Jordaan had help from his late wife, Letitia Jordaan, and his children, who gave lessons while he was at work during the day. Now that his children are busy and not always able to help, Jordaan’s grandson, Ayron Frieslaar, assists with swimming lessons in his free time. Jordaan, who has four children, five grandchildren and one great grandchild, prefers giving lessons in groups of eight when teaching children, and groups of five when teaching adults.
Now at the age of 79, Jordaan has no plans of closing the doors of his swimming school and said he would continue giving lessons as long as his health allows.
He has, however, admitted to slowing down after his wife’s passing four years ago and instead of teaching a total of 400 clients which included learners from various schools in Nelson Mandela Bay, he has decreased the total to about 120 private clients.
Jordaan, who teaches clients according to their schedules, said his busiest times are in the morning and in the afternoon between 15:00 and 20:00.
After completing their swimming course, Jordaan said many of his younger clients had gone on to join swimming clubs and lifesaving clubs.
Since he started giving swimming lessons more than two decades ago, he has taught at least three generations of family members.
“I have taught grandmothers when they were younger and now, I am teaching their grandkids how to swim,” he said.
Jordaan, who has always been involved with swimming and lifesaving said his love for swimming was cultivated at the age of 16, when he joined the Alpha Surf Lifesaving Club at the Schauderville Swimming Pool, when it opened in 1958. The Schauderville Swimming Pool, however, has been vandalised and no longer operates, which Jordaan attributed to the lack of maintenance by the municipality.
“It is sad to see it in such a state and it is terrible that there are no affordable swimming pools in our area for children to make use of. We have so many good memories of the community pool and so many people in the Northern Areas learnt how to swim at the swimming pool in Schauderville.”
Jordaan further said, through his swimming school he hoped to continue teaching people how to swim well and to pass the school down to his children and grandchildren.
