Published 11 May 2023

The National Sports and Physical Activity Convention will host a hot topic debate when held from July 27 to 28 July 2023 at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Royal Life Saving Society – Australia Chief Executive Officer, Justin Scarr will chair the debate focused on where the 50m pool fits in community leisure facilities.

Speakers will address two sides to this debate:

One, that Olympic-length swimming pools are the mainstay of community aquatic centres, and power our competitive swimming achievements from local communities to the Olympic Dias, as well as providing an organised set of lanes for the hundreds of thousands who like to swim laps for fun, fitness and health.

Or two, that leisure facilities should address diverse community needs, incorporating water space for a range of health, social and sporting activities which may not always include a 50m competition pool.

Joanne Love, President of Swim Coaches and Teachers Australia and Nadine Kemp, Regional Executive Manager of The Y (Victoria) will be making the case in support of 50m pools.

Todd McHardy, Chief Executive Officer of BlueFit Group and Simon Bryson, General Manager, Operations for Aligned Leisure will be making the case for catering for more diverse community needs.

The workshop on Friday 28 July from 12.05pm is part of the community sport and leisure stream and will be followed by a discussion of next generation of management models for the next generation of community leisure centres.

Mr Scarr said he was looking forward to a vigorous debate between the experienced industry leaders.

“We are all committed to a vibrant aquatic industry where everyone has an opportunity to gain vital swimming and water safety skills, but how that actually looks in communities across Australia is up for discussion. This will be a healthy debate, and I will uphold the great moderator tradition of sitting on the lane rope as our debaters argue for and against,” Mr Scarr said.

“It is critically important that we think about how we can design facilities to meet the needs of communities as they continue to evolve now and into the future.”

For more detail about the National Sports and Physical Activity Convention and to view the full program, visit https://nationalsportsconvention.com.au/program/