Dave DuBois - Sydney, Australia
A life involved in the teaching of swimming, and also teaching others to teach swimming, has profoundly affected the way I see and appreciate the water.
“My first swimming lesson experience was not a good one ... Harsh instruction, very forceful, hysterical crying. I remember the feelings of helplessness and fear, it lasted one lesson and my mom was sorry she took me there.
“Luckily it had been prefaced by enjoyable family time around the water, but in those experiences I just hadn’t learned to swim properly. So, we went back to exploring, playing and learning to enjoy being in the water.
“Then there was a breakthrough moment ... I clearly remember being in a hotel pool in San Diego with my dad, and I made it across the small pool on my own. It felt amazing. I wanted more!
“Shortly after, I tried lessons again at a YMCA pool in Orange County. It was a much better experience! The teacher was kind and encouraging and I progressed quickly. Those lessons continued and culminated with one of the coaches suggesting to my mom that I try out for their swim team.
“While this was encouraging, I was very shy socially and wanted nothing to do with joining a team. My swimming remained solo.
“During these years, a lot of my swimming and aquatic adventures were based around beach time with friends, boogie boarding, and body surfing on the Southern California beaches ... Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Seal Beach were my local stomping grounds.”
Why did you learn to swim Dave?
“My family spent a lot of time at the beach and often spent vacations (holidays) around water.
“Many of the family stories I grew up hearing as a child centred around my older brother and sisters spending time at my grandparent’s beach house in Corona del Mar, California. By the time I was born the beach house had been sold, but the stories lived on. My siblings were all older and this added to the lore of the times at the beach house being the “good ol’ days”. I think in some ways we were always on a quest to recapture those halcyon days ... our family was always drawn to times at the beach, and playing in the waves.
“Although we spent time around water, the early lesson experience was driven by water safety concerns and drowning prevention, which is common in many of the sunbelt states in America.
“Alongside my swimming confidence, I also gained inspiration from my older brother whom I idolised. He played water polo in high school, and because he loved the sport it definitely attracted my interest and my goal became playing water polo in high school. Despite my social trepidation, when I was about 11, I asked to join the local swim team which practiced at Cypress High School. My sole purpose was preparing for my high school water polo career.
“Joining the team was an eye opener. The kids were so fit, and so fast! I remember really struggling on kicking sets and being amazed how they all were so much quicker than I. This was my first real taste of that unique aspect of competitive swimming, being team and socially driven, but also very individualistic.
“I persevered and talked myself through each length, pushing myself to improve.
“While the coach wasn’t super attentive, she offered enough feedback for me to know she was watching and noticed my improvement. I never competed with the fast kids, but had my introduction to the team vibe and how things work in the lane while following the black line.”
Brotherhood of pain and survival
“Eventually the time came ... I joined my high school swimming and water polo teams with a couple of good friends. The sequential back to back seasons meant this was a year round commitment to the chlorinated way of life. The first year was brutal. The swim coach doled out huge sets and punished us with distance we couldn’t really effectively recover from.
“For young inexperienced swimmers to be given sets of 80 X 100 with descending intervals that we barely, if ever made was a struggle. While challenging, the experience certainly bound us together in a brotherhood of pain and survival.
“I wasn’t experiencing the fun my brother had always talked about, but the bonding and connection I found made me stick with it. I had become socially connected with a team after all, and some of these connections have lasted to this day.
“In a gracious and fortunate twist of fate, that coach left, and in my Sophomore year a new coach stepped in at the beginning of the water polo season.”
The Brazilian changed my life
“The new coach was from Brazil, he was an Olympian, and was just getting started on his coaching career in the US. He would later go on to great notoriety with Long Beach Wilson high school, but our little team at St. John Bosco was his first real opportunity to develop a group like ours in the States.
“It was obvious this was a different kind of coach right from the start. He had energy, intensity, passion. He spoke of his plans, ambitions and his expectations. He talked of the things he believed we were going to do. We all thought he was crazy to be honest ... It was a little scary, but it was also exciting.
“Little did we know the journey we were all in for. This crazy Brazilian was none other than Ricardo Azevedo, who went on to amazing success at all levels including becoming the USA National Coach, and coaching all over the world. In his years with us, his son Tony and daughter Cassie were born and we used to step over them as they crawled around the pool deck as we practiced. Polo was a family affair, with both his kids going on to international success in their own rights – Tony was a 5 time Olympian and considered one of the best players ever.
“Those years with Ricardo changed my life. He developed me as a swimmer and water polo player, instilled a love of the sport, swimming included, and more importantly taught me about the power of belief.
“Our team went on to achieve all things Ricardo told us we would, and more, including league championships and personal achievements resulting in University scholarship offers ... All of this largely because Ricardo saw something in us we couldn’t see, and believed in us more than we believed in ourselves. I am fortunate to still be in touch with Ricardo to this day and am thankful he came into my life.”
How has this positive influence stayed with you, Dave?
“The experience I had in high school cemented my already strong connection with the water and all things aquatic. When you are a swimmer and water polo player in Southern California there are numerous lifeguarding and swim teaching jobs that usually come your way. So, like many, I lifeguarded over a few summers and did a small amount of swim teaching while lifeguarding.
“I applied for a swim teaching job at a swim school opening nearby, out of convenience more than anything else - I had no idea I was embarking on a whole other journey in swimming.
“This chance application just happened to be with Australian Swim Schools, owned and operated by John and Diane Bainbridge. It was a rough start for me, as I had little experience with young children, but John and Diane showed me the way. I didn’t know at the time I was working with experts in the field, particularly with baby swimming.
“Slowly my swim teaching improved and I grew to embrace this new found role of working with babies and young children. This teaching adventure gave me a new lens in which to see and understand swimming and appreciate the benefits it provides, not only in terms of safety and exercise, but also the developmental benefits, family bonding and pure joy.
“I worked on and developed my swim teaching throughout my university career as I studied visual communications, training to become a creative director.
“When the time came to graduate, I was torn between the career I had just spent years preparing for in school and this swim teaching thing I was drawn to and was discovering I really loved.
“I couldn’t make up my mind, so I escaped on a year long OE (Overseas Experience). Most of my international contacts were swim school people, meaning my time away was spent with many passionate and dedicated people involved in learn to swim.
“By the time I returned, I was settled. Learn to swim was the life for me.
“My path since has taken me to live in three countries, to travel the world as a consultant, and brought me to work with John Coutts, Richard Cahalan and the incredible team at Carlile Swimming (Sydney, Australia). I have never looked back.”
PhotoS below:
with Diane & John Bainbridge & Dave in action (yellow shirt)
with baby (left) and with John Coutts & Richard Cahalan
Conservation, biodiversity and the beauty of Misool
“We still spend most holidays seeking amazing experiences in the water. I’ve always sought idyllic tropical locales, entranced by the myriad of blue hues in their waters. And there have been so many ... Hawaii, Caribbean, South East Asia, French Polynesia, Fiji, Cook Islands, Australia ... All amazing in their own right.
“But in the last few years my search took me to the Raja Ampat region of Indonesia, to the coral triangle, the epicentre of the ocean’s biodiversity, and a place called Misool.
“I have been fortunate to visit a number of times ... This is the place of my dreams ... It’s an incredible, sustainable resort that supports a number of conservation efforts through their foundation. Being able to float in their waters, immersed in the kaleidoscope of colour and life is something that’s hard to describe It’s affected me deeply.
“With so much gloom about our future on earth and the environment, experiencing the healthy reefs of Raja Ampat and the ability of a business to succeed in harmony with the local community and the environment. It’s inspiring and gives me hope for us all.
“Most people who go to Misool scuba dive, but I prefer to snorkel and free dive, just experiencing it with my body and my breath.
“And all of this I have experienced through the water, through my body in the water, and because I can swim.”
Dave, what about your swimming now?
“I swim for fitness, but even more for the peace it brings to my mind and body, which only the water and moving through it can provide.
“We are lucky to have a pool at my place of work which is an easy respite for some laps, but the local community pool, the Manly Boy Charlton Pool, is a frequent haunt, as are my local rock pools at Dee Why and Freshwater.
“My swimming has become more sporadic than I would like. I miss my daily baptism, and long to reintegrate into my routine. Reflecting on my story has inspired me to get back in the water more regularly.
“I don’t push myself with big sets these days, my workouts are simple and light on yardage. They are about connecting with myself and the water. I mix my laps up, and I structure my swim based on how I feel on the day.
“I have experimented with USRPT style sets, and worked on a HIT type protocol. This has been fun and allowed me to get more fitness benefits from a compressed time frame when I can’t spend as much time in the pool as I would like.
“I don’t swim with a squad or receive coaching formally, but I have friends who I enjoy discussing technique and all things swimming with. These talks often lead to me trying and changing things in my stroke and approach.”
Dave, describe your ‘ideal’ swim
“It’s quiet, warm, still, I’m alone, I’m at peace, grounded, happy, at home.”
Dave the swimming professional and poet
“As shared earlier, being involved in the world of professional swim teaching has taken me around the world a few times. I am the Swim Program Curriculum Manager with Carlile Swimming based in Sydney, Australia and every day I get to work in the aquatic education (learn to swim) field which has fulfilled me for just on 37 years, and counting.
“I think it’s profound that a life involved in the teaching of swimming, and also the aspect of teaching others how to teach swimming, can affect so strongly how I see and appreciate the water.
“Here is a poem I wrote in 2000 which encapsulates my thoughts on water and what I feel when I see it ...”
Many look into the water and they see, something pretty, cool, an inviting place for them to be; a drink, a bath, a sailor’s fate, a place with sport to recreate.
I see those things as water splashes, but even more as each wave passes ...
The water’s where I laugh, and teach, and grow, and when in need of peace, it’s where I go.
The endless colours, forms and sounds surround me, and I feel at one with what’s around me.
Water’s life, it’s what I do, it’s who I am, it’s what I need to feel new again.
So, I look into the water and I see, myself, my life, a place for me.
What are your best swimming memories?
“Oh my god! So many, how to pick. Here are 17 for starters.
Making it across that pool for the first time with my dad ... It was magical, it triggered something in me ... The swim has never stopped since that moment.
Snorkeling with my family in a cove near Hanalei, on Kauai, Hawaii, when I was about 10 ... It was what became my definition for paradise.
Swimming in, and sitting under, one of the waterfalls in the Seven Sacred Pools near Hana, on Maui, Hawaii ... Felt like a movie scene, cool, refreshing, energising.
Winning key sprints for possession in important polo games for my team. Swimming fast made me feel like I was helping everyone and making an important contribution. Even more than winning it was not wanting to let my teammates down ... I think I still hold the winning sprint percentage record at my school!
Winning our first league championship with my water polo teammates.
As a teacher, swimming with young toddlers in small groups, of only 2 -3 years of age, who had progressed through the baby swimming program ... Their skills were amazing and it was pure joy watching them and being with them as they explored.
Having students I held in my hands as baby swimmers return and start their swim teaching careers.
Night snorkelling off the California coast for lobster on a moonless black night. My torch (flashlight) stopped working, and there were no visible lights along the shore to navigate by. I was lost in the inky darkness with kelp wrapping around my arms and legs. It was one time I was completely disoriented and scared in the ocean. Fortunately I had gone out with a Navy Seal friend who kept his cool and guided me back to shore ...It humbled me and reminded me of the respect that water, and the ocean, always require.
Swimming in the open ocean off the Great Astrolabe Reef, Near Kadavu in Fiji ... There was almost limitless visibility, some of the clearest water I have ever been in - it was eerie, like floating in space ... I was humbled and felt small.
Experiencing my first ice swim in Finland with my friend Niina. Although this is common in Scandinavia, it was hard for me to comprehend why anyone would leave a toasty warm sauna and wade into a hole carved into a frozen lake and submerge in the frigid waters, and do it nude!. But it’s what they do, and they are fanatics about it! There is a high, and exhilaration that follows the shock of the cold ... Still not my favourite thing to do, but another dimension to the watery world.
My first trip to Australia in the early 90’s, swimming in the Sydney rock pools (particularly Bondi, Freshwater and Palm Beach), and the North Sydney Olympic pool under the Harbour Bridge. I even joined in a friendly breaststroke race with the Freshwater Swimming Club when I tagged along with Richard Cahalan and his family. I felt like I was swimming in hallowed waters, literally immersing myself in the swimming culture of this great nation ... It made my skin tingle (and that wasn’t from the Blue Bottle Jellyfish!).
Swimming and floating in the Blue Lagoon in Iceland (geothermal pool) in the middle of winter (we are talking like -20) – The opaque turquoise water and steam contrasting the black basaltic lava is beautiful, surreal, bizarre, and other worldly.
Swimming in the egg shaped, Art Nouveau pools of Hagabadet Spa in Göteborg, Sweden ... Thanks to my friend Knut Rosen for taking me there. I felt like I was in a time machine and taken back to a by-gone era. My only regret was not giving the diving platform a go!
Swimming with free, wild, Giant Oceanic Manta Rays in Indonesia – It’s happened a number of times, but on one occasion we encountered a courting couple and they danced around us for almost an hour, with the enormous 7 m wings coming within centimetres of me over and over again ... We adopted the female through a special conservation program and called her Krapkua, which is Thai for family.
Teaching my partner Samruay to swim, and seeing her feel the joy and explosion of confidence as she progressed through floating, propelling and swimming, eventually to the point where we could float in the open ocean and experience nature’s wonder together. She grew up a non-swimmer and learning has opened up a whole new world to her.
Seeing teachers gain new insights and confidence in their abilities to help their students ... it is quite special, you can see an exponential effect of how much impact that has on so many future swimmers and their experience in the water.
In a modernist twist I have enjoyed spending time on a few occasions in the amazing infinity pool atop the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore ... It’s a spectacle, an engineering marvel, it offers insights into the human fascination with it as a selfie magnet, and the lengths we as a species will go to to capture and display water in the most extreme places.
“So, many more ... endless really, but I will stop there.”
If a visitor came to your city, what places would you recommend they take a swim?
“I do this often, I take them to Bondi and walk from Bondi to Bronte, in either direction, checking out the many rock pools and if there’s time, we venture in for a swim, probably at Bondi.
“We also visit the Freshwater rock pool and talk about the culture of surf lifesaving and amateur swimming clubs, explaining how the two mingle, maybe taking in some lengths in the 50m pool. Afterward, visit the statue of Duke Kahanamoku on the cliffs above the pool and talk about his visit to Freshwater Beach in 1914 when he introduced modern board surfing to Australia.
“And lastly, being an avid Carlile Swimming fanatic, I take them on a leisurely drive up the northern beaches peninsula and visit the Palm Beach Rock pool where it all began for Forbes Carlile back in the 1940’s.”
Disneyland, Fly Fishing and Travel
“I come from a family of educators, my dad was a teacher, and then high school principal for over 40 years, eventually developing partnerships between private industry and public education.
“I was born literally in the shadow of Disneyland, with my grandfather being a member of the Anaheim planning commission that approved Walt Disney’s permits back in the early 1950’s. My dad worked there on opening day, as did many educators in the early days when the park was only open in the summer (when school was out on summer break). The storytelling of Disney Imagineering has always influenced my approach to childhood education.
“One thing my dad and family always impressed upon me was the need for us all to find a way to contribute to the world, a way to make it a better place ... we aren’t just here as spectators or along for the ride, we need to participate and engage. I am thankful that through swimming, and in particular learn to swim, I have found a way to do it.
“I really enjoy Fly Fishing. My father taught me to fish, but I taught myself to Fly Fish and then got him into it to return the favour. We enjoyed many trips together. It’s an activity that really helped me appreciate “fishing” and not just catching. There’s something transcendent about standing in magnificent surroundings with the water flowing through your legs and working an artful cast to a rising fish ...
“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” - Norman Maclean
“I enjoy creative pursuits, and have a degree in Visual Communications. The main way I find to express that these days is through photography ... I see and experience the world differently when composing an image through the lens, and it helps me “see” things I might have otherwise missed.
“Travelling has changed me and the way I see the world. There have been amazing places to see, but it always comes down to the people you meet. I truly believe there would more peace in the world if people travelled more extensively. I have a flight log and have recorded all the flights I’ve ever taken ... It’s amazing how they have added up and retrace connections I’ve made with old friends.
“I enjoy cooking and creating in the kitchen (almost as much as I enjoy eating!). While I embrace all cuisines, I am drawn to low n’ slow American style BBQ. I find it’s a way to show love and appreciation. I love the joy it can bring.
“While I’m not a total gear head, I am obsessed with the 1967 Shelby AC Cobra 427 SC ... Everything about it gets my motor running!
“I worked as a volunteer in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, at the Water Polo venue at Pepperdine University. The exposure to the Olympic movement and experience impacted me profoundly and helped me appreciate the role sport plays in bringing us all together.
“I aspire to produce a documentary series called “Water Whisperers” that explores the lives of various people who affect the world, it's environment and its people through water.
“I classify myself as a Ameri-Kiwi-Aussie. I’m US born ... I grew up, went to school and worked there until about 2000. I spent 6 years in Wellington, New Zealand, became a NZ Citizen, and am now a permanent resident in Australia. I currently live on the northern beaches of Sydney in the beautiful area of Dee Why with my partner Samruay. We love our families in America, New Zealand and Thailand and long to connect with them and the water as often as we can.”
Share with us a final thought Dave
“I believe the water has an ethereal, magical quality tied deeply to us as humans. Being in it connects us to ourselves, each other and our environment. Passing that connection on to others, especially children, is important and makes a valuable contribution to our world.”
Connect with Dave
Dave's professional accolades
2017 ASSA Hall of Fame Induction - Outstanding Contributor
2004 ASCTA Meritorious Service to the Teaching of Swimming in Australia (First overseas recipient)
2003 USSSA Guiding Light Award
ASSA Water Safety Committee Member
International Swim Schools Association - Ambassador At Large
Contributor to the Swim Australia Teacher and Swim Australia Teacher of Babies & Toddlers Qualification Courses
United States Swim School Association - Infant Swimming Committee Chairman 1997-2003
