Port Macquarie Swimming Club member Zara Phillips takes up Learn to Swim instructor role

The teenagers have been treading water for months, left with no option other than to coach themselves after stalwart coaches Michael Mullens and Cheryl Neville hung up the clipboards.

Now, upcoming competitions have been cancelled until at least mid-November which has provided talented teenager Zara Phillips with an opportunity to go down a different path.

Instead of receiving instructions, she's handing them out after taking up a role as Learn To Swim instructor which has given a different perspective on life in and out of the pool.

"Coaching gives me something else to look forward to," she said.

"It's good to not have to get in the water at 5am when it's cold and staying dry is always a bonus when it's windy and you don't want to be there."

While the numbers at squad training had dwindled, she said those of them who continued to turn up tried to push the others as best as they could.

"A lot of us lately have been feeling out of it; there's no-one feeling it enough to push each other or anything to allow them to get stronger," she said.

"The motivation for all of us - whether it's the 10 of us in the morning or whoever knows how many in the afternoon - we're all just there trying to keep the fitness so when we do go back to competitions we're ready.

"Coming back the first six weeks are always tough and it's always long and it's always boring, but particularly at this time everyone's just out of it now and just don't want to do it knowing nothing is coming up yet."

What else is happening in news, sport?

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: