Laurie asks state to splash out

LEGENDARY swim coach Laurie Lawrence has challenged the Queensland Government to return the state to the best in the nation for teaching kids to swim.

He said the days were long gone since busloads of schools kids turned up for government-funded lessons.

Education Minister Grace Grace said while she was open to ideas about compulsory swimming benchmarks for school students, parents should teach their kids how to swim before school age.

“Laurie Lawrence says his number one piece of advice is learn to swim, the earlier the better. I know my child certainly swam before she started school and I think a lot of parents are in that category but schools do have an important role to play and we want to ensure that all children have the best access to a school swimming program.”

But Mr Lawrence, as well-known for his passion for kids’ swimming as he is for his ecstatic celebrations as a coach at the 1988 Olympics, said school lessons were vital because not all parents could afford early childhood lessons.

“We’re the number one swimming state in Australia and we can’t get our kids taught to swim at school.”