FOR over 50 years, Barry Eldridge has impacted generations of swimmers with his skilled and dedicated tutelage.
His teaching career began in Victoria in the 1960s where he taught secondary ag science before the temptation of warmer weather and a lucrative career in agriculture led him and his wife Leslie to north Queensland.
Barry worked as a contractor on cane farms from 1965, but realising the industry wasn’t as profitable as he once thought, they moved back to Brisbane in 1968.
“I’d been out of teaching for a while, and I was also a foreigner from Victoria, so I had to go back to teachers’ college for 12 months,” he reflected.
Barry attended the college in Kelvin Grove where he embarked on a career in physical education.
After a post-college stint in Monto, he returned to Brisbane where there was a desperate need for PE teachers.
It was while teaching PE at Newmarket and Enoggera that be began coaching swimming, later transferring to Salisbury.
The couple had purchased a property in Thornlands, so Barry sought opportunities nearby, leading him to take on the primary school swimming circuit including schools in Mount Cotton, Redland Bay, Victoria Point, Wellington Point, Birkdale, Cleveland, Thornlands, Wynnum and Manly.
In 1974, Barry and Leslie embarked on their own venture, Eldridge Swim School in Thornlands, and they’ve since welcomed people of all ages including babies, kids, teenagers and adults for swimming classes, aquatic therapy and physiotherapy and aqua aerobics.
He also taught scuba diving for 35 years, had a succession of dive vessels, and logged approximately 3000 hours from introducing trainees to offshore diving off North Stradbroke and Moreton Islands.
Throughout those years, Barry said he had developed an eye for talent and has trained swimmers from young ages into elite athletes.
“I’ve never been wrong,” he boasted.
“It’s just like someone judging a music contest – they know a good voice when they hear one; I know a good swimmer.”
A recent highlight came when two of his swimmers, Aryan and Sofia Singh, returned from a competitive swimming carnival in Helensvale with a bevy of medals: six-year-old Aryan won gold in all four major strokes as well as a novelty kickboard race, while nine-year-old Sofia won gold in butterfly, freestyle and backstroke, came second in breaststroke and placed in the novelty kickboard race.
“I’ve taught them since they were little kids, they had their first lessons here,” Barry said. “I feel very happy for them because they work hard for me, they do what I tell them, and they get good support from the parents.”
Barry thrives in coaching up-to-date techniques, making sure to teach them in interesting and enjoyable ways and ensuring swimmers appreciate the benefits of the sport.
“It’s one of the best exercises there is because no muscle escapes,” he said.
“Different strokes emphasise different muscle groups, but the body as a whole doesn’t escape; every muscle is working all the time.
“The most important thing about that first lesson is if they want to come back for the second one.
“There’s no substitute for experience and learning patience and techniques that work.”
