St. Petersburg, Florida USA 13 June, 2014 – Torill Hindmarch of Norway is the recipient of the 2014 Virginia Hunt Newman International Award according to announcement by the World Aquatic Babies & Children Network (WABC) who oversees the nomination and selection. The honor is given by the organization annually to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to conducting aquatic programs for babies and young children in a kind, loving, caring, and gentle way so they learn to love the water. Presentation was at annual cermonies at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida USA.

Torill started with baby swimming in 1975 in Bristol England, but feels her most important work came in Norway in the early 1980’s when she pioneered aquatic activities for babies and toddlers in the Oslo region. In 1982 she developed a teaching program for her local branch of the Norwegian Lifesavings Society (NLS) that moved away from “training” babies. Instead a play based pedagogy with songs, movement and joy of water was introduced. Such was the popularity of this program that NLS invited her to develop an instructor program for the Lifesaving Society based on this activity. She then did the same for the Norwegian Swimming Federation, (NSF).  

Since 1988 she has worked to promote and change the methodology in Norway away from the dive orientated methods that prevailed at that time. Torill was strongly influenced by Daniel Zylbeberg and his work in Paris. This caused her to rethink the practice in Norway which created quite a stir at the time. But she saw that not all babies were happy in classes, the approach was still too forceful for the more sensitive families. We were putting tools into the hands of inexperienced parents with little background in aquatic education. This lack of experience and understanding meant that parents where exceeding the limits of safe activity which resulted in negative reactions from babies and children with lasting consequences. She set about changing the approach.   

Torill has a Master’s Degree in Early Years Education and has managed two preschool and child care centers in Norway, promoting Forest school methodology. Her passion and knowledge of the advantages of movement in water were instrumental in developing programs in these centers for weekly sessions at the pool for the preschoolers and in particular those children that were developmentally challenged. This approach was effective and enhanced speech development, social skills and motor development. She used this background to great advantage in developing a child centered approach in baby swimming.

Early Childhood Education has been an important part of Torill’s working life. Her experiences have given her an appreciation of the importance of strong relationships between teacher and pupil. By listening to the pupil the teacher becomes a more accomplished teacher. The advances in research into child development and learning have been central to the development of teaching philosophy in aquatics for young children in Norway. From Vygotsky through Meltzoff, Kuhl and Gopnik to the work of Trevarthen, she has found inspiration and wonder at the power of social interaction and the child’s desire to communicate. The tiniest baby is ready from birth to communicate, she suggests that teacher take time to make that connection feeling that interactive communication is an important part of the aquatic learning process. This and the sheer joy of being at one with the aquatic environment is the cornerstone of our pedagogical approach.

Torill worked  to establish courses and clubs in the two counties south and east of Oslo creating venues for aquatic activities in baby and toddlers in the 1980’s and 1990s. Much of this work was voluntary so as to develop local opportunities for families and children to have a continuous swimming and water safety education. This voluntary work included two terms as chair for the committee for baby swimming in the NLS for a total of 10 years.

Torill now works for the Norwegian Life Saving Society as an education consultant at the main office in Oslo with responsibility for education in water safety and drowning prevention (section for families and children), curriculum development, instructor qualifications and teacher support.

Torill was a presenter at an early international conference in baby swimming in Strasbourg in 1988 organized by FNNP, and then at the World Aquatic Babies Congress (WABC) conferences in Melbourne and Toulouse. Since then she has presented at the Nordic conference in baby swimming in Iceland and in recent years at the World Drowning Prevention Conference in Danang, and Potsdam, also for the Lifesaving Foundation in Dublin. Her main message is to promote gentle methods of water familiarization and encourage instructors to let the babies and toddlers take initiative in their aquatic learning. She places emphasis is on drowning prevention and promoting self - rescue techniques together with parent water safety education. She feels strongly about ensuring a child centered education both in and out of the water.

She has a background in competitive swimming and lifesaving. And parallel to her work with babies she has been educating swimming and lifesaving instructors for the NLS and the NSF since the 1980’s. Torill helped establish sport lifesaving in Norway, serving two terms as chair of the sports committee and was the national coach for life saving for 4 years.  She also gained inspiration from several teachers in the field of antenatal aquatics, following programs from France and from Australia that focus on preparing the mother for birth, breathing and relaxation exercises and encouraging connection between mother and child at this early stage. All this has helped her develop a holistic approach to teaching swimming, survival and water safety to young children and their parents.

In her free time she still enjoys trekking, cycling, skiing, and horsemanship, incidentally involved in starting the first Norwegian vaulting club (gymnastics on horseback) which got it accepted by the Equestrian federation as a sport.