4 months - 3 years
over 3 years
over 3 years
Our Credentials
Aquatic Achievers
Aquatic Achievers is a world leader in Aquatic education. The group operates 5 state of the art swim schools and is the largest swim lesson provider in Brisbane, Australia, teaching over 300,000 lessons per year.
Brisbane has more swim schools per capita than other other metropolitan area in the world. The state of Queensland, which Brisbane is the capital, produced more Olympic Swimming medals in Beijing than any other state in the world.
Swimming from an early age is a natural part life in this part of the world and is one of the reasons why Aquatic Achievers is seen as an industry leader.
Aquatic Achievers was started by Neil Douglas, who has been teaching swimming for over 40 years and still cannot help hopping in the water to help teachers out. The 14-level Solo-1 teaching program has proven that it not only can teach athletically gifted or 'natural' swimmers, but also builds the skills and confidence in those children who initially find swimming difficult.
uSwim's History 
The Concept of uSwim is something which evolved over time. Originally intentioned to be a book parents could learn from, the idea of showing parents how to teach their children to swim seemed to fit better with the internet and all its capabilities.
On a weekley basis Aquatic Achievers customers who were relocating interstate or overseas wanted a way to continue teaching their children to swim using the Solo-1 program. Ben Douglas and Nick Folley have spent the last 3 years synthesizing the Aquatic Achievers pogram and its major learning components into something that can be understood and learned by anyone, even those without a swimming background.
uSwim now is able to reach across the globe and our goal is to save lives not only in Australia, but also places like Bangladesh where over 40,000 children die from drowning every year. Some of the people that benefit from the website are those in rural areas or areas without professional swim schools.
Focus groups 
One of the reasons uSwim works is because we have tested it on ordinary mums and dads who know nothing about swimming. Special thanks and appreciation needs to go to all the people who have given their valuable feedback and opinion while uSwim was being developed. Our intention was to make the program as easy as possible for people to use. Our focus groups have offered invaluable advice and suggestions. That does not mean its perfect yet, so give us your feedback!
Ben Douglas
The concept of uSwim is something that Ben is extremely passionate about. After teaching thousands of children and special needs adults, the benefits all people get from being able to swim well is obvious to him. 'This is why uSwim is such a special project, because it increases the amount of families and kids who can learn, not just those in countries with swim schools.' 
After high school, Ben studied in the United States completing a Degree in History from the University of Hawaii. Ben's enthusiasm for teaching swimming was first realized while living in San Francisco. Here he worked at the 'Janet Pomeroy Centre", a non profit organization for the mentally disabled. Here both children and 'special needs' adults were taught to enjoy swimming at various levels.
Ben returned to Australia in 2005 when he began teaching swimming lessons full time with Aquatic Achievers.
Nick Folley 
A swimmmer in his youth, Nick began teaching children as a part-time job while studing his undergraduate degree. Quickly the part-time job turned into a passion and a full time career. 10 years later he is recognised as an industry expert when it comes to all levels of teaching. Training new teachers and introducing new ideas to seasoned teachers is a great highlight for Nick. "I really enjoy teaching kids myself, but I take a great deal of pride in seeing new teachers taking great classes. I remember my first classes and the buzz of helping kids achieve new skills. Its fantastic when I get to see that in teachers I have trained."
Nick's Masters in Project Managment from QUT has leant itself to the mountanous task of getting uSwim up and going.
