Meet the Blue Fin Team!

A strong student – teacher relationship is something that we believe is so important to the development of our swimmers at Blue Fin. It is because of this belief that we put a lot of effort into ensuring that our teachers are not only the best of the best but that your swimmer will have the same teacher each week. This consistency helps our swimmers to build trust, to build confidence and to enjoy their swimming experience!

To help you get to know our fabulous teachers a bit better we’ve put together some teacher profiles! This week we are featuring Anna Grigg, who was our Swim School Coordinator prior to taking maternity leave in early 2017, Caitie Sampson, who has been a part of the Blue Fin family from age 3 years and joined the teaching team in 2013, and Lisa Glikfeild who is our new Assistant to the Swim School Manager!

Anna Grigg

Anna joined our Blue Fin team in 2014 after having moved to Australia in 2013. Born in Kent, in the UK, Anna studied Teaching and worked as a PE teacher in the UK before moving to Qatar where she taught both PE and Swimming to children from all over the world.

Growing up Anna’s sporting passion was Netball, which she started at 6 years old and continued to play through to only a few years ago (and we are sure she was very good at it!).

After taking some time off in early 2016 to have her gorgeous son, Conor (whom we adore!), Anna has now re-joined our teaching team much to the delight of our parents and swimmers! Anna loves teaching because she loves to help the children be the best they can be, and finds it so rewarding to see the pleasure they get from their successes.

Outside of Blue Fin you can find Anna tasting the best restaurants on Chapel St, or travelling the Australian countryside with her family. A self-proclaimed travel-lover, Anna has said her favourite part of travelling is trying new foods and meeting new people. Nearly 4 years later, we couldn’t be happier that she stumbled across Blue Fin in her travels!

Caitie Sampson

Caitie, like many of our teachers, began her journey with Blue Fin as one of our swimmers in the Learn to Swim Program, excelling through levels 1 to 6 and going on to spend nearly 6 years in the Squad Program.

Always a lover of water, Caitie has also been very actively involved with her local surf lifesaving club, where she is not only a Volunteer Lifesaver but also a Senior Surf Sports Competitor for both the Summer and Winter (IRB) seasons, and a Bronze Medallion Trainer (with her sister Bec).

Some other things you may not know about Caitie is that she attended St Michael’s Grammar School from Kinder through to Year 12, during which time she was part of numerous sporting teams, choirs, ensembles, and also Mitre House Captain. Caitie is now studying a Bachelor of Science at Melbourne University, and in her free time is either at her beach house in Ocean Grove, or here, at Blue Fin!

When asked why she loves working at Blue Fin Caitie will always say it’s the people; she loves the friendships she has made with her fellow teachers and each week can’t wait to see her swimmers to have a chat and a giggle and catch up on their weeks (in between some swimming of course!)

Judy Cormick

Judy is one of Blue Fin’s longest standing staff members, having been with here for nearly 36 years. Over these years she has worked along side many, many of our wonderful teachers and has absolutely loved being part of the growth and development of Blue Fin during this time. She has had many roles and responsibilities; from administrator, to coordinator, and more. But most memorably for the kids is her giving of stamps at the end of the swimming lesson (which they just adore!). It is safe to say that Blue Fin would not be what it is today without her!

Outside of Blue Fin Judy loves to spend time with her family; her daughters and her grandkids (and of course her cat Bam Bam!). She also loves reading and going to the movies, so we can always rely on Judy to review the latest book or film for us.

Judy’s biggest highlight of her job is the interaction with the children. As the keeper and giver of the stamps, Judy is one of the most loved team members at Blue Fin, we secretly think the children might love Judy’s stamps even more than their swimming lesson!

Lisa Glikfeild

Having joined the Blue Fin team only recently, Lisa is doing a fantastic job of settling into her new role and getting to know the big Blue Fin family (swimmers, families, and teachers!). With over 11 years of experience in the Swimming industry, Lisa brings with her a lot of knowledge and enthusiasm so we are very excited for the months to come!

As a mum of two, Lisa likes to spend her free time with her two kids, in particular she loves to cook with them! Lisa also loves to swim, both as a way to keep fit and to help her relax, calling it her form of meditation. Like many of our Blue Fin team, the beach is one of Lisa’s favourite places, and we totally agree – there really is no place better to spend our time off!

Lisa’s big motivation in her job are the kids; she absolutely loves spending time with them, watching their self-confidence and ability grow, and being able to be part of their development. She says for her it is not just about the swimming, but about being able to make a positive difference in a child’s life.

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know some of our team members a little better!

With love,

The Blue Fin team

(P.S. We always love to hear feedback about our blogs, and are open to suggestions or requests! Please let us know your thoughts!)