John Sugden’s competitive experience has ranged from junior ranks to State Level in athletics (particularly throwing and jumping) and Australian Rules Football (AFL) competing in the Under 19’s for the Hawthorn Football Club, whilst also captaining the Peter Crimmins Development Squad in 1980. In cricket he performed at a National Indoor level whilst living in England between 1987-1990. However, for the past 23 years he has been deeply involved in swimming and athletics as a teacher and coach.
His teaching & coaching experiences have ranged widely in the junior sporting ranks, both in England and Australia, but more recently he has been involved primarily in Swimming. Whilst continuing upto approximately 2005 in Athletics coaching in mainly throws and jumps for various Primary and Secondary schools he has taught ‘Learn to Swim’ at many venues before officially starting his own Swim School in 1998.
From 2000-2007, he held the Head Coach position at Kew Swimming Club (Melbourne, Australia) guiding several age-group swimmers to State Finals. Whilst at the Club, John partnered the Committee and Assistant Coaches to see membership at KSC move from mid-forties to eighty plus members.
Prior to this he was involved for almost 3 years as an Assistant Coach at Surrey Park Swim Club. This included overseeing the strength and conditioning program for the National and International ranked swimmers, including Olympic Silver Medallist Backstroker, Matt Welsh.
John has also undertaken a sessional lecturer / teacher role for 3 years in the “Swimming” subject at Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. This role along with his passion in Human Movement has developed his interest in raising the quality of teaching standards in “Learn to Swim” both with children and adults.
Each of our coaches have, at minimum, the AustSwim Swim Teachers certificate.
We then take them through a comprehensive program to bring their facilitation levels up to the standard we believe is essential for training your children to be totally safe and proficient in water no matter what the environment.
We believe the individual should be relaxed, comfortable and confident in their abilities before moving to the next stage of learning. We always use a gentle and encouraging approach, celebrating each milestone. We do not put someone in the deep end to make them “overcome” their fear.
For children, we have a variety of techniques and games we play to make learning fun.
We strive to build confidence in all our students by explaining the our proven principals. Building a strong foundation and understanding of the water before beginning a progressive style into the stroke mechanics. You have to be able to understand the water to diminish your fear.
JSSS only does one-on-one lessons for any adult who is afraid of the water. This decreases any anxiety of embarrassing oneself in front of another student, not to mention the safety aspect. Most adults who have a fear of the water are not able to balance properly and do not know how to stand up in the pool. With the individual attention, the instructor is always there for the student to lend a helping hand if they do need support. Our instructors are never never further than an arms length away until they have developed skills to stand. Safety is always the first priority. Contact us today for more information on these specialised lessons.
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For additional details or inquiries, feel free to reach out to us. You can contact us at 0490 867 499 or email us at admin@jsss.com.au for locations in Glen Waverley, Balwyn, and Boroondara for Kilsyth South, please call us at 0472 703 030 or email us at hello@jsss.com.au . We look forward to assisting you!
JSSS looks forward to welcoming your child to a free
assessment followed by a trial lesson in a normal swim class.
