Veteran Telopea Swim Club coach Les Barclay poolside with Telopea swimmers at the AIS. Photo: Facebook.
Established over 60 years ago at the Manuka Pool, the Telopea Swimming Club had a somewhat nomadic life before the decision was finally made to wind up.
It was a testament to the club’s coaches and volunteers that they were able to stay afloat, given the seemingly endless search for pool space to train.
After Manuka, the club moved to the Deakin pools, of which there were two, at Oasis and the Deakin Health Spa, before relocating to Phillip, Girls’ Grammar and then Queanbeyan over the past six decades.
Throughout the 60 years, though, the club could train champions under the guidance of coaches such as Peter Freney and Les Barclay.
Les says Peter’s approach was to provide young swimmers with life skills, enabling them to achieve beyond what they did in the pool.
“He just carried the gift of sport,” says Les. “Peter set up systems aimed at getting the best out of the athletes. He gave them skills for life.”
Included among the champions who came through the club are Olympic silver medallist Angela Kennedy, Paralympic gold medallist Siobhan Paton, and her sister, Sarah, who represented Australia at the Athens Olympics. There were others too, such as Chloe Flutter and Anthony Rogis. The list goes on.
In the end, COVID and the uncertainty over securing pool time at Phillip forced the club, Canberra’s second oldest, to fold, effectively ending a rich history of nurturing the sport in Canberra.
“What really hurt us was COVID,” Les says. “We couldn’t use the Phillip Pool for three years, and couldn’t use the Girls’ Grammar pool for 18 months, followed by the uncertainty over the Phillip Pool.”
Vikki Jacobsen is a former president of both Telopea and ACT Swimming.
She says that Telopea was a club for everybody.
“The Telopea Club had a family feel about it, the members were very loyal and we had great coaches. The lack of access to the Phillip Pool made it difficult and the membership dwindled over the past couple of years.”
The folding of Telopea has left a void in the Canberra swimming community.
