Come in, the water’s fine at Clovercrest

Did you learn to swim at Clovercrest? It seems that everybody either went to swimming lessons at the Clovercrest swimming school or knows somebody who did. On page 3 of the edition dated 21 February 1968 the North East Leader, a Messenger Newspaper printed a feature about the opening of the new Clovercrest pool. On Sunday 2 February over 200 guests attended that official opening of the 25 metre heated indoor pool, which as the article below states, was reputed to be the most modern facility of its kind in Australia.

Photographs of bikini clad women have not changed since 1968!

The Clovercrest Pool is situated at 433 Montague Road, Modbury North. On the 6 March 1968 the North East Leader followed up with a story on page 5 about swimming lessons for pre-school children, which was named the Tadpole class. Today children aged from 6 months to 4 years of age can enrol in the Waterbabies class! The Clovercrest Pool also took out a large advertisement showcasing it services on page 2.

A special carnival for amateur swimmers (the first of its kind to be held at Clovercrest) made front page news on 19 April 1968. Money raised from the two day event would go towards helping the Australian Swim Team get to the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. The directors of the Centre donated the use of the pool to the South Australian Amateur Swimming Association. Such a high profile event would have brought many people to the pool. The young people who entered the competition may have felt very special sponsoring the Olympic athletes. Many were named in the article below.

Some of our staff members at Tea Tree Gully Library recall going to the Pool during the 1970s and 1980s. “I remember learning to swim after school at Clovercrest, when the different grades were named after sea creatures – you would strive to attain the dolphin and then the kingfisher certificates. If you completed all of the levels of tuition you could join the Centre’s swimming club. I admired these older kids who swam really fast in the lanes devoted to lap swimming.”

“It was steamy and hot inside the pool area and you could see the reflection of the water on the walls. After swimming you were always hungry and it you looked forward to buying something from the pool kiosk. It was the first and the last time I ate a huge Bush biscuit, after my parents urged me to try one!”

The Clovercrest Swim Club was also founded in 1968. It is now affiliated with Swimming SA, and is a member of Swimming Australia. Members have taken part in competitions interstate and overseas (https://clovercrest.swimming.org.au).

1976 was a special year for the Clovercrest Swimming School when David Urry, the former coach of the Australian swimming team at the Christchurch Commonwealth Games purchased the facility. It was at Clovercrest that he developed the State Swim program. Today State Swim has schools at eighteen locations across South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria (https://www.stateswim.com.au).

Clovercrest Swimming School, present day.

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