Our Story

Southland Swim School and Swim Academy was founded in December 2003 by Jeremy Duncan .Before a rebrand in 2022, it was known as H2O Dreams.

When he moved to Southland in 2003 from Christchurch, he had already embarked on my learn-to-swim and coaching journey starting as a 20 year old university student. Following on from finishing his swimming career where he represented New Zealand and broke New Zealand records as an age grouper and open level athlete.

During his time at Aquagym in Christchurch he worked along side former national coaches Brett Naylor and Glen FindIay. He have placed swimmers on age group national teams and coached swimmers to national titles and new zealand age group records in both New Zealand and Australia. He also coached two para-Olympians, helping them secure spots on the Sydney 2000 Olympic team.

Upon his arrival in Southland, his vision was to build a performance based programme that provided a pathway from infants to internationals  and taught the right skills at the right time by giving every athlete the opportunity to be the best swimmer they could be.

These programs soon proved successful, consistently placing multiple swimmers on national teams. such as the 2010 Commonwealth Games 2010, 2010 Oceania Champs,  2011 World Champs, and the 2012 London Olympic Games.

He also had the honor of being selected as a national coach ( in brief ) for several prestigious events:

– 2006 World Junior Championships

– 2009 Oceania Championships
– 2010 Commonwealth Games
– 2010 Pan Pacific Championships
– 2011 World Championships
– 2012 London Olympic Games

He holds the highest coaching qualification in Australasia, a Gold License.

Over the past 21 years, the business has thrived, teaching thousands of Southlanders to swim well.

It is wonderfull to now be able to hand on the coaching baton to head coach Maddison Wills , as she takes the programme into the future .