Bega swimming pool family managers to towel off at end of current season

Mark and Zoe are hanging up their swimming caps and goggles, diving with anticipation into a new chapter, changing lanes, and going out with a splash.

It was a difficult decision for the couple, who have been lifeguards and managers of the community-owned pool for close to a decade, with Zoe's father Phil Harris running the pool and coaching for 39 years prior.

But the reason for their change was very close to their heart.

"We will just become parents, we're not going to be the coaches or anything like that, and our son Henry will still want to swim, so we'll still be coming to club night, we just won't be here 80 hours a week," Zoe said, before her husband Mark chimed in.

"The pool's not going anywhere, we'll still be here, there'll still be water in it next year, just Zoe and I won't be here [working]," he said.

Zoe, who has been around the swimming pool since she was born, said she went from being held by members around the pool as a baby when her father was coaching, to watching carnivals and competing by age five.

"Never stopped," she said, "Still training, because obviously you practice what you preach."

Located on Upper Street in Bega, the pool was dedicated to those who answered the nation's call in WWII, and was drenched in history.

It was established when the Apex Club heard a 19-year-old man had drowned at the junction of Bega and Brogo rivers in 1950 due to converging currents and submerged tree branches, and hoped the pool would teach swimming proficiency to the Valley, which it has done with great success ever since.

Inside the clubhouse and adjacent to a wall covered with the names of NSW champions, many with a Miller surname, sat a storage room filled with memorabilia showcasing Bega Amateur Swimming Club achievements, including a thick record book filled with hand-scribbled lap times, and the first 'Business House Swimming Relay' pewter trophy from 1962.

Though they love their job, even helping kids of kids of kids they have taught during the 48 years of the family-run pool, Mark and Zoe look forward to changing lanes into the next chapter of their life.

"In our eyes, we've built an empire. We teach six days a week, coach five days a week, go to swimming carnivals, we've got nippers swims, the SES and the firies come here, [and] we do business house relays," Zoe said.

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"So it is seven days a week, six months of the year, and [it's] just time for something new, and we have a 9-year-old that needs our attention more than the other 5000 people we teach."

Mark continued, "We're beach people, we love the beach, and not once have we picked our son up from school and gone to the beach, never in his life.

"And I'd love to do something like that, and no rush to get home because you have to get up at 5am the next morning.

"Those days are gone, hopefully they come back again," he said with a smile.

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