Jeremiah Carnegie wanted to give back to the pool that he achieved so much in
A 17-year-old from Croydon has helped teach more than 700 children learn to swim after he started training at one of London’s Olympic legacy venues. Jeremiah Carnegie used to swim in his local Crystal Palace pool, but after it closed, his access to 50-metre-long pools was limited. A
competitive swimmer since the age of eight, he regularly attended swim meets at the London Aquatic Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, in Newham, where he has won multiple medals. While training at the pool with his swim club, Newham and UEL Swimming Club (NUEL), Jeremiah found that he didn’t see a lot of the ‘local community getting benefits from the pool’.
Jeremiah told MyLondon: “It was blatantly obvious that quite a lot of the venue wasn’t being used to its full capacity by the local community. There were a lot of clubs training at the pool from all over London, but I felt like a lot of the local community wasn’t able to access it.
“There are so many barriers to getting into swimming, as it is an expensive sport.”
That is why Jeremiah took the idea of training Newham primary school children for free over two weeks at the Aquatics Centre. In partnership with his swim club and the Aquatics Centre operator Everyone Active, they set up the Newham Future Swimmers programme.
Each child attended a 30-minute swimming session every day for five days during the summer holidays. A total of 320 children took part in the first week, which was designed for children who had never swum before. A further 460 children with some previous swimming or pool experience took part in the second week.
All primary schools across the London Borough of Newham were contacted about the opportunity, with 780 children signing up before the closing date. Families who indicated they did not have essential swimming equipment, such as swimsuits, trunks, or goggles, were provided with these items free of charge.
Jeremiah said: “I spoke to multiple parents who said they wanted their children to learn to swim but it would be unaffordable for multiple children. By giving this opportunity, I think it also promotes the pool’s legacy.
“When I coached the kids, you could see how much they enjoyed being in the water while also learning important skills and knowledge about how dangerous water can be. It was nice to see the kids smiling when we gave them certificates on the final day for completing the course.
“It’s an intense course over five days, and seeing kids who couldn’t even walk around without needing to use a float, by the end of the week, they were confident enough to float on their back. I’ve won multiple medals myself at the Aquatic Centre and had a lot of firsts at that pool, so to be able to give back to the community and an area that has given so much to me, I’m grateful.”
Everyone Active provided the pool space and four swimming teachers, who volunteered their time to support the programme. Meanwhile, NUEL provided four coaches and volunteers to help register children and guide them to their sessions at the London Aquatics Centre.
Sarah Cole, whose two boys, Luke and Brooklyn, took part in the programme, said: “If they’re ever in trouble in the water, they’ll have the confidence to get themselves out of it. I’m so happy with how much more confident they’ve become. We’re going on holiday this year, and it’s reassuring to know they’ll feel safer and more comfortable around water.”
Jeremiah continued: “I hope the kids were inspired by training there. We had a lot of feedback from parents saying they were grateful that their children were given the opportunity to become more confident or that their children are excited to carry on swimming. We had 700 sign-ups this year, and we know there were 1000s of children who weren’t able to sign up or didn’t know about the initiative, so we expect to have a lot more next year.”
Shaza Hussein, CEO of London Legacy Development Corporation, said the program is a ‘fantastic example’ of how the Park works with local communities.
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