By Emma Xerri
After 30 years, Monbulk swimming teacher Sally Pizzey is hanging up her fins.
Moving on from an adored role at the Monbulk Aquatic Centre, Ms Pizzey is saying her goodbyes to families she has taught for generations, as well as staff and students she now feels privileged to call friends.
“It’s the end of an era, but I just feel the time is right,” she said.
“I feel I’ve contributed a lot of time to the aquatic industry, and now it’s time to move on and do other things.
“I’ll miss the staff and all of the families that I’ve gotten to know over the years that have become friends.
“I won’t miss being cold in the water though.”
The centre said their goodbyes to the beloved teacher after her last class on Saturday 27 April, celebrating with an afternoon of speeches and heartfelt well wishes.
“It was a very nice way to finish off,” she added.
And on whether or not emotions were running high, “yeah, they were. Inside they were,” she laughed.
“It was the sincerity of how much they appreciated my contribution to the centre, and the friendships that I’ve made.
“There are some families where I have taught every member all the way through, so it has been quite humbling to be able to do that.
“And for me, it’s never been a job, it’s always been a passion.
“It’s not just about teaching the kids to swim, but extending them further than what they think they are capable of, which might mean pushing them to swim a whole lap. It might not look too nice, but the sense of achievement they gain can work wonders.”
With her time at the centre spanning three decades, and her aquatic career as a whole exceeding four, this “friendly, old, grey-haired swimming teacher” hopes to be remembered, first and foremost, as “someone who knows their job.”
“But also as someone who is able to relate to the kids.
“I will always treasure the relationships I was able to build with them.”
And it’s clear her impact has transcended far beyond her lessons, as she prides herself on the leadership she’s been able to show the younger teachers, and the fact that she’s had more than 50 students go on to become swim instructors – “that’s quite an achievement.”
But she assures she is not leaving the industry altogether, instead she will be hard at work continuing her self-funded learn to swim program at Lord Howe Island, which she hopes to expand to Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands with the help of some more swim institutions hopping on board.
And when she isn’t busy travelling Australia or teaching swimming lessons in some of the country’s most beautiful lagoons, Ms Pizzey’s familiar friendly face can still be spotted at her nursery in Kallista.
