Dad banned from pool after making son swim two hours, non-stop
Tuesday, 28 July 2020
A father made his son keep swimming after two hours in the pool while a mother forced her 8-year-old daughter to endure nine training sessions a week.
These are among a list of complaints about behaviour in a Wellington pool, but such situations were not unique to any one pool or sport, according to Wellington City councillor Simon Woolf. He says bullying and intimidating parents are rife across codes.
“It’s on every sports field, performing arts, ballet dancing. You get parents that play or perform through their kids.”
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Woolf, who has the sports and recreation portfolio at Wellington City Council, recalls a football game a few years back where a father was physically pushing his embarrassed 8 or 9-year-old son onto the field in the belief the child was not getting enough game time.
“You can be a parent and you can bully and intimidate – that is what we are looking to eliminate.”
Little Makos Swim School owner Sarah Chambers said parents pushing so hard they killed their children’s passion were too common, even if it wasn’t an issue she had in her classes.
She was aware of an 8-year-old girl in a Wellington swim school whose mother took her for training five times a week, on top of the four sessions the club provided.
Chambers remembered being at the pool early in the morning and seeing the girl doing laps with the mother watching from the stands.
The club asked the mother to stop, but she kept going and ended up being kicked out of the club.
Wellington City Council has released a list of all complaints about behaviour at Keith Spry Pool in Johnsonville, and which ones resulted in bans.
“Father pushing son to continue swimming despite him being in the pool for two hours continuously and failing to follow the lifeguard’s instructions that this was not safe, and he had to have a break,” the 2018 complaint resulting in a ban said.
Keith Spry Pool recorded nine complaints that year, of which three resulted in bans. The other two were for a disruptive group of youths ignoring life guard instructions and an “aggressive” special-requirements child who “wilfully urinated” once out of the pool.
A person watching objectionable material in public avoided a ban.
Roll around 2019, and complaints soared from nine to 22 and became no less abusive.
“Public advised pool staff that a father was coaching his child to exhaustion,” a complaint that year said.
And, one in 2019, complained: “A parent was aggressive towards their child, pushing their hands firmly while moving their arms in the breaststroke motion. Pool Manager was called as the child was upset and crying.” That parent avoided a ban.
Council pools manager Amy Carter said the types of incidents in the official information answers were not isolated to the one Johnsonville pool. Similar situations could be seen around the country and world, including in libraries, community centres, and recreation centres, she said.
About 1.2 million people visited Wellington’s seven pools each year and staff were trained in dealing with a range of incidents.
“Sometimes I think our staff are as much social workers as they are lifeguards.”
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said his office rarely received complaints about those types of incidents.
“If anyone is concerned about the safety of a child at a public pool, they should alert the pool staff in the first instance.
“Otherwise, getting in touch with Oranga Tamariki or the police is another course of action, if thought necessary.”