The Armadale Fitness and Aquatic Centre (AFAC) is a multiple award-winning facility based in the City of Armadale, Western Australia.
The AFAC teams continuing pursuit of excellence has seen them grow to over 3,900 swim school enrolments and over 6,000 in membership across their state-of-the-art facility. A record breaking 2023/2024 financial year saw 960,000 visits to the facility.
With multiple aquatic areas, water safety is paramount. AFAC have developed and embedded a year-round program of training for their Lifeguards, setting the bar incredibly high and well above minimum requirements. This begins at their induction and continues with each training session.
This approach to training is values led, and comes from the top down, ensuring every AFAC employee is a true embodiment of the values.
A training plan runs for 12 months, focusing on team cohesion and bonding and providing development opportunities for all Lifeguards.
The sessions are run bi-monthly, and are a mix of theory and practical, with a specific theme and focus for each session. Attendance is mandatory, and all lifeguards are paid. This values their time and emphasises the importance and quality of each session.
Senior Lifeguards take turns to assist in training, further aiding their development and allowing them to share their experience and skills to support the development of the wider team.
Senior Lifeguards play a crucial part of AFAC’s aquatic safety, providing mentorship and guidance by supporting the Duty Managers.
While training covers serious topics, maintaining an element of fun is a priority. For example, in October, all the inflatables are setup (normally only for young children to use) and the Lifeguards get to just have fun and play.
This program has yielded great results for AFAC, setting a consistently high bar for competency standards and giving all Lifeguards the opportunity to grow and develop in ways that support them far outside their role at AFAC.
This values led approach is at the core of AFAC, seeing them awarded Swim Australia – National Swim School of the Year 2023, Water Corporation – Gold Endorsed Waterwise Facility 2023 and Swim Coaches and Teaches Australia – SWIMSAFER Award of Excellence 2024 (amongst many other accolades).
