FRIENDS, RIVALS AND PARTNERS, JOANNE GIBSON- TAYLOR AND ANGELA VAN HEERDEN RUN ONE OF THE BIGGEST SWIMMING CLUBS IN THE UPPER HIGHWAY AREA, WRITES DEBBIE REYNOLDS
It’s a balmy Hillcrest winter’s day and Joanne Gibson-Taylor has just waved goodbye to the youngsters in her swimming class. Angela van Heerden is in a pool in Italy training a group of competitive swimmers. The “besties” have turned their passion for swimming into an uplifting career which encompasses community, family and friendship.
“We became best friends at Hillcrest Pre- Primary, both became swimmers and then rivals when we swam for different clubs as Angela went to Hillcrest High and I went to St Mary’s,” says Joanne. After leaving school Joanne studied marketing and advertising at UKZN and did honours at Vega School, while Angela studied part time through Unisa while continuing to swim competitively.
Angela’s previous coach Tracy Loxley had started Aquazone Swim Club, but after she had children, she found it difficult to keep running the club. “She literally gave the club to Angela and told her to make of it what she could,” says Joanne.
Joanne, meanwhile, dived into her career working for an advertising agency. “But Angela kept nagging me to join her, so when there was restructuring at my company, I jumped at the opportunity to work mornings only so I could coach the stroke correction programme for Angela in the afternoons.” With the club growing rapidly, Joanne joined full time in 2006. “We exploded in February 2016 when we moved to Curro Hillcrest High and built an indoor learn-to- swim pool,” she says.
They now pride themselves on being a one-stop-swim-shop, offering everything from learn-to-swim classes for infants and adults, competitive swimmer training, stroke correction and adult fitness.
Said Angela: “Our holistic programme develops swimmers from infants to competitive level, with many of our swimmers receiving medals at junior and senior national level. We have had SA representatives on junior teams and a number of swimmers on the SA junior squad.”
One of their success stories is Aaron Putz, who won seven medals at the 2017 INAS (International Federation for Athletes with Intellectual Impairments) and recently competed at the Glasgow edition of the world IPC series.
“I think what sets us apart is that we really live by our motto, One Team One Family,” says Joanne. “We’ve grown to over 500 members, but we work hard to keep the family feel hosting club nights and special events to build our relationships.”
Also key to their success is exposing their swimmers and coaches to as many learning opportunities as possible, as well as working on stroke technique and correction. “I have been to the USA and Australia to work with coaches there and attend their conferences and have completed SSA level 2, ASCA (USA) level 3 and ASCTS (Australia) bronze license accreditations,” says Angela.
They currently work from Curro Hillcrest High, where their temporary office is based, Curro Hillcrest Christian Academy, and Kloof Senior Primary.
“We offer four heated pools, nine coaches (besides ourselves), with Belinda Dallaway running the office, freeing us up from the administration which we’re not so hot at,” laughs Joanne.
“It’s so amazing to work with your best friend. My strengths are Angela’s weaknesses and vice versa. She’s more involved with the business and money side of things, while I’m more into the people and HR issues.”
Joanne is married to Bevan and has two children, Ben, nine, and Emma, six, who she says are both “good little swimmers”. Angela is married to Ockie and is expecting her first baby in October.
“We’re able to adjust our schedules around our families which is great,” says Joanne. “I’m sure things will change when Angela has her baby, but we’ll make it work, we always do.”
FOR MORE INFO
www.aquazonesa.co.za