Inspirational Croydon Swimmer Helps Teach 780 Children to Swim Through Free Programme

A 17 year-old competitive swimmer from Croydon has launched a new training initiative at one of London’s Olympic legacy venues, helping more than 700 children in Newham learn to swim.

Jeremiah Carnegie trains at the London Aquatics Centre in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, a venue built for elite competition and now home to his club, Newham and UEL Swimming Club. A competitive swimmer since he was eight, he'd spent enough time around the pool to notice something that bothered him: a venue drawing clubs from across the capital, sitting in the middle of Newham, largely untouched by the community living around it. Cost, he realised, was doing most of the excluding. "There are so many barriers to getting into swimming, as it is an expensive sport," he said.

Rather than leave that observation as a passing frustration, Carnegie turned it into the Newham Future Swimmers programme, built in partnership with his club and the Aquatics Centre's operator, Everyone Active. Every primary school in the borough was contacted, and 780 children signed up before the deadline. Structured as daily 30-minute sessions across a week, the programme ran two distinct groups: 320 total beginners in the first week, and 460 children with some prior pool experience in the second. For families who couldn't provide the basics, swimsuits, trunks, goggles and other equipment was provided.

The transformation over five days was, by Carnegie's account, dramatic. "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," he said. He'd heard directly from parents who'd wanted this for their children for years but had never been able to justify the cost, particularly with more than one child to teach. "By giving this opportunity, I think it also promotes the pool's legacy," he added.

Everyone Active aided Carnegie's efforts, supplying the pool space and four volunteer swimming teachers, while NUEL provided coaches and volunteers to handle registration and guide children to their sessions. Sarah Cole, whose two sons took part, said the training gave her reassurance as a parent. "If they're ever in trouble in the water, they'll have the confidence to get themselves out of it," she said. "We're going on holiday this year, and it's reassuring to know they'll feel safer and more comfortable around water."

Demand for the programme outpaced their capacity, but the plan is for the programme to build on its success: "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," Carnegie said.

Shaza Hussein, CEO of London Legacy Development Corporation, described the initiative as a genuine model for how the Olympic Park should be working with the communities around it, rather than simply hosting elite sport within earshot of them.