ABOUT US
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Our philosophy is simple: to help our children to be the best he or she can be – both inside and outside the pool. We strive to teach life skills together with our world-class swimming skills, build a healthy self esteem, and teach our swimmers that you can achieve your goals through dedication, self-believe and hard work.
Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.
The club’s swimmers are skillfully coached under the watchful eye of the Head Coach, Coenie van Graan, who also spends a lot of time preparing the swimmers mentally for upcoming events. Coach Coenie is a strong believer that the coach is just one of the pieces of the puzzle, and that the swimmer itself and his/her parents/guardian form the other pieces.
“This is a combined effort”.
OUR HISTORY AND SUCCESS
Ever since the establishment of Barracudas Aquarama, the club has been a major player to be reckoned with. The club’s swimmers continue to excel at all gala levels and hold various WP and SA records** During June 2012, Coach Heinz took a small team of just 11 senior swimmers to the Stuttgart International Swim Festival (Internationales Stuttgarter Schwimmfest) to compete against the top clubs in the world. Despite being the smallest club present, the swimmers achieved the almost unthinkable by finishing 3rd overall. In the process they’ve won 30 medals and broke 8 records.
MEET OUR FULLY
QUALIFIED COACHES
MEMBER OF SPORT ASSOCIATIONS
- Member of the South African Swim Coaches & Teachers Association S.A. NUMBER 840404 COENVAN
- Member of the USA Coaches Association
CERTIFICATES & DIPLOMAS
- CENTURION AKADEMIE – Sport Management – Registered at the Department of Education 01HB03
- ETA – Personal Fitness Trainer – THETA accreditation NR: 613/P/000007/2004
- SA – Learn to Swim S.A. NUMBER 840404 COENVAN
- SA – Level 1 Coaching S.A. Number T/ WPA/2012/0002151
U.S.A. COACHING INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATE
- U.S.A. Coaching Certificate Level 1 Foundation of Coaching 30% of coaches in the USA.
- U.S.A. Coaching Certificate Level 2 The Stroke School 45% of coaches in the USA.
- U.S.A. Coaching Certificate Level 3 The Physiology School the upper 15% of coaches in the USA.
OTHERS
- Lifesaving Certificate South Africa
- First Aid Certificate South Africa
- Professional indemnity insurance – R 2 000 000
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS:
Swimming
- Western Province Schools (2000)
- South African Short Course Championships (2000)
- South African Short Challenge Competition (2002)
- South African Junior Nationals (2003)
Lifesaving
- Western Province Lifesaving (2000 – 2009) Captain (2005 – 2008)
- Commonwealth Games SA Coastal Team (2003)
- South African Record – 50-meter dummy relay (2002)
Biathlon
- Western Province Biathlon (2003-2013) Captain (2004-2012)
Over 14 Years competitive coaching experience.
Coach Coenie van Graan
E-mail: coenievg@warc.co.za
Cell: 084 673 9598
Judi is currently a LTS instructor at Barracudas Aquarama in Durbanville. She previously coached at Quick Silver Competitive swimming club based at Fairmont High School in Durbanville for 2 years and 3 months.
She enjoys working at all levels from toddlers to masters.
WORK EXPERIENCE
She has been coaching since November 2020 and is still a competitive swimmer.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Learn To Swim (LTS) qualification
Swam level 3,
Figure skater intermediate level 4 WC development figure skating team,
Half colours swimming WC 2020,
School colors swimming 2020,
Best Senior Girl Swimming Fairmont High 2020,
Western Cape Provincial Sports Colours / 1 MAY 2023,
WC High-Performance Team Captain senior lady lifesaving 2023,
Compete at South African Lifesaving Championships Nationals every year.
EDUCATION
Learn To Swim certification, First Aid level 3, Qualified Lifesaver still and open water.
MEMBER OF SPORT ASSOCIATIONS
Member of the South African Swim Coaches & Teachers Association
SSA Reg no: T/WPA/2017/0006563
Accreditation no: 6693
CERTIFICATES & DIPLOMAS
SSA – Learn to swim – T/WPA/2017/0006563
SSA – Level 1 coaching – T/WPA/2017/0006563
HFPA – Water aerobics/ Water fitness – Student no – KOC008
National Senior Certificate
OTHERS
First Aid Certificate South Africa
CPR Certificate
PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Assistant coach for Nationals/ Olympic trails in 2021/22.
Assistant coach in 2022 and assisted with coaching for Olympics 2022. She has first hand experience in working with a few Olympic swimmers.
(Recommendation letter from Olympic swimmer available on request)
She’s coached a hand full of high performance swimmers & international swimmers. (Recommendation letter from high performance swimmers available on request)
She’s coached the high performance swimmers and gave numerous time stats to ensure top performance throughout their training sessions.
She’s travelled to Level 1, 2 & 3 with swimmers that she has coached and achieved various medals, ranging from gold, silver and bronze.
HER MISSION AS A COACH
She adapts to every swimmer individually during a training session to ensure that she recognises each swimmer’s different needs in and out of the pool.
She has an uplifting and positive approach to every training session.
She believes in having a personal relationship with each of her swimmers. This ensures that she can help them achieve the goals they have.
She always motivates and is a strong believer in coaching in a friendly, loving and positive attitude.