About

The Highlanders was founded by Ryan Steenkamp and Lennard Bremmer, a pair of competitive national swimmers with international experience that are passionate about sharing their love for the water.

At the Highlanders, we believe that everyone child should master swimming from a young age. After all, enjoying the water is an essential part of the Australian way of life. Ryan and Lenny focus on developing water confidence, technique and speed for swimmers of all stages. From those learning to swim to those competing at a national level.

We believe all ages and abilities should enjoy swimming. It provides an excellent platform for people to develop character, fitness and long-lasting friendships.

Meet our amazing coaches.

We’re a passionate team. Get to know us and what we can do for you!

Ryan Steenkamp

Head Coach

Ryan Steenkamp is a competitive national swimmer passionate about sharing his love for swimming. Ryan believes that swimming is an essential life skill that provides an excellent platform for developing character, resilience, self-motivation and long-lasting friendships.

On retirement from competitive swimming, Ryan realised there were not a lot of options for swimmers who did not want to pursue the typical swimming club performance pathway. The swimming club mentality has primarily centred around achieving target times, attending a minimum number of sessions, and discouraging participation in other sports. For that reason, Hooked Swim has decided to offer swimmers something different, the chance to develop at their own pace and build a passion for the sport to help encourage them to make swimming a part of their life.

Ella Shilliday

Junior Coach

Ella Shilliday is one of our outstanding junior coaches at Hooked Swimming.

Ella started swimming when she was about 4 years old and loved it so much that she joined her local swimming club as soon as she was able to. Ella was born in Scotland and competed for 11 years, first at her hometown club in Stirling and then at the University of Bath. Ella competed at the Scottish National level for a few years before finally hanging up her goggles.

However, Ella couldn’t completely retire from the water and now swim for fun and fitness and just to make sure that she is still describing correct technique to the swimmers! Ella is a qualified ASCTA Coach of Competitive Swimming and when coaching Ella tries to focus on nailing the technical aspects of each stroke as well as the basic, fundamental skills that can easily be overlooked. Her ultimate aim is to create a welcoming, inclusive squad which works really hard and has the most fun.

Alex Milligan

Assistant Coach

After a long career as a competitive nation swimmer having represented Australia at the junior Pan Pacific Championships and the World University Games, Alex is keen to spark passion amongst the next generation. With the ideology that the enjoyment of swimming and the development of a passion for high performance is key to success in the pool, Alex’s enthusiastic and high energy coaching aims to make kids swim fast whilst having fun. As a breaststroke and individual medley specialist, and a former member of the Western Australian Insititue of Sport, Alex has a wealth of knowledge of all things swimming, including technique, performance mindset, and life balance

Thurston Hewitt

Junior Development Coach

Thurston is our talented junior development coach, bringing with over 15 years of competitive swimming experience at a state and national level.

Thurston has completed a bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sport Science, making him an Accredited Exercise Scientist. He is currently undertaking a Masters of Teaching (Secondary), majoring in Health and Physical Education and minoring in Health Education, while also being an accredited development coach.

Thurston is passionate about mentoring junior athletes to build sustainable training habits, building confidence and a healthy competitive spirit. Through his experiences and studies, Thurston aims to give valuable advice on technique and strength, while supporting a healthy lifestyle. He is focused on developing strong work ethic in a training setting and encouraging all swimmers to perform to their personal best in a positive swimming environment.