About

Mariano Garcia Nani

Kia Ora & Hola,

Throughout my life I have enjoyed many different sports but my love of water is what led me to choose a career in swimming. With my teaching family as role models, it seemed natural to progress from competitive swimming to coaching.

Having been told of New Zealand’s beauty and abundance of water by a colleague at college, we left behind family and friends in Argentina to start a new life here in 2015.

During this time I met Donna Bouzaid and trained with her in the professional development program. This led me to my Australasain Coaching Qualification in Silver, with Gold pending. With a passion to stay current with the latest coaching methods, I was excited to be selected as part of CoachTED, a two year coaching program run by Wayne Goldsmith.

Experience in teaching and coaching from pre-school to national competitive level swimmers led me to Taranaki to take over Team Aquabladz and BWF Aquatics in 2022. Where we have continued to grow and continue Sue’s and Donna’s legacy of producing top Taranaki swimmers. In 2023 I was selected as team coach for Swimming New
Zealand’s World Junior and Queensland State Championship teams, accompanying two such swimmers.

Enabling people to realise and reach their full potential is what motivates me and keeps me driven. I am passionate in providing excellence in coaching and laying the foundations for skills that will last a lifetime.

In order to show a clearer distinction between our learn to swim programs, Squad swimming and Aquabladz Club, we have rebranded BWF Aquatics and Team Aquabladz to Taranaki Swim Academy. Aquabladz Club remains the same.

Taranaki Swim Academy offers a Learn to Swim based at the Methanex Aquatic Centre. In this program, we aim to develop familiarisation with the water environment, promote water safety and help overcome fear of the water. Here we provide a safe and nurturing environment to help encourage students to move outside their comfort zone.

The program structure is such that allows students to flourish at each level before being introduced to new skills.

Once competent in Learn to Swim, students are able to join squad training. The five squad levels follow a pathway to high performance swimming. Here we strive to provide swimmers with a passion for the sport, a sense of community and lay the foundations for a lifetime of fitness and wellbeing.

Aquabladz Swimming Club is the backbone of our competitive swimming. The club organises fundraising and grants that enables Aquabladz club members that train with Taranaki Swim Academy to travel away to swim meets at minimal cost to the swimmer.

The club is also responsible for running club nights, local swim meets, prize giving, travel to away meets and helping parents navigate the competition world

Club nights are open to everyone, non competitive and competitive swimmers. It gives swimmers the opportunity to have a go and learn about racing in a non competitive environment.

Local meets are where swimmers learn the skills to compete, gain qualifying times and learn sportsmanship. To compete at local meets, swimmers must be financial members of the club. Regional and National meets require a financial membership of Swimming Tararaki and Swimming New Zealand.

Taranaki Swim Academy and Aquabladz Club, work together to provide the best opportunities locally, nationally and internationally for our swimmers.

Our Vision

Our vision is to create swimmers that have the ability to compete successfully at both a national or international level with the knowledge they train at one of New Zealand’s top swimming clubs.

Our philosphy

We aim to provide an environment that allows students to not only establish a sense of community with their peers and teachers but encourages a stronger sense of self worth and belief in their abilities to achieve their goals.

We believe that treating each swimmer individually and understanding their mindset, enables students to thrive and reach their full potential.

We pride ourselves in ensuring staff are up to date with the latest research in athletic strength and endurance development, ensuring our swimmers train efficiently and safely whilst fostering excellence and sportsmanship within the swimming community and beyond.