Blog guest: Maya Cvejic

After her move from Australia to UAE, and given the fact that even after the birth of her fourth child she couldn’t find a professional and reputable swimming instructors, Maya Cvejic decided to start her own Waves story. Since 2011, she has been a part of the team of 10 coaches and support staff, and together they teach more than 500 kids per week to love and enjoy swimming! As a Swimming Dad #Blog guest, Maya will tell us whether it is easy to find the right swimming coach and how she deals with it from both parent's and employer's perspectives.

Is it easy to find a good swimming instructor nowadays (from parents' and managers' perspective)?

I started Waves Swim Academy because I could not find reliable and experienced coaches for my kids, when they were younger and started to learn to swim. I noticed that swimming clubs would employ anyone who had any swimming qualifications, regardless of their attitude and experience in this important job. So, I decided to start my own company and employ my own staff who not only have the right qualifications and experience, but also the right attitude and passion for coaching and working with children.

As a manager and business owner, it is not easy to find great instructors but it is important that once you find a them, to allow them to profesionally develop and make them feel they want to stay with you.

In your opinion, what is the most important aspect when choosing a swimming instructor?

For beginner and young swimmers, they definitely need to have excellent

communication skills, the right attitude, personality, energy and passion for coaching kids. Anyone can learn the skills needed to teach basic swim skills, but if they don’t have the right attitude, kids will not want to swim with them.

For advanced or swimmer who professionaly compete, the same personality skills are required but we also pay attention to the number of years of professional experience, their past achievements as well as whether they understand the psychology needed to improve and motivate a team. The coach needs to be able to develop each swimmer and improve his/her technique, so you should know how to motivate them in the best possible way. Psychology plays a very important role in coaching of advanced swimmers.

Does the club’s reputation depend on the quality of its coaching team? Definitely! No club can survive for long if the quality of its coaches is not great. The club’s reputation can be built or damaged by word of mouth of the clients so it is very important to have a strong and great team representing your club. At Waves Swim Academy, we always pay special attention to our entire team, from the first person you see when you walk through the doors, to our coaches and management who look after our swimmers and parents.