HOLIDAYS IN KILKEE, Co Clare, will never be the same again. It is only a matter of time before a sleeping giant on the edge of the sea is rudely awoken by the shrieks and screams of splashing, happy people.
The mind boggles at the thought. Does the image make the new manager shiver in his boots?
"I hope it will be as busy as hell," laughs Brian Sweeney, the newly appointed general manager of Kilkee Water World. The £2.4 million development is due to open later this year. Sweeney is eager and enthusiastic, even impatient for the opening - "It's a fabulous new facility and a fantastic design."
There is a smile in his voice as he lists its pool, lazy river, fun pool, geysers and a myriad other water features which are waiting to be sampled by the holiday-makers of west Clare this summer. "For the first couple of months we'll have mostly school tours. It will be crazy, but it will be controlled.
Originally from Dublin, Sweeney has worked as a duty manager for the past two years at Galway's Leisureland Centre in Salthill. The prospect of managing a major new facility proved too enticing. "Like anything else, it's a challenge," he says.
His new job will involve "putting together procedures and systems for running and staffing" the new centre. "You are out there marketing and selling it, especially as it's a new facility. You are also the financial controller - you are balancing the books, keeping the place up to a high standard.
His responsibilities were similar at Leisureland. He was involved in marketing the complex, budgetary control and operational tasks such as the rostering of staff, training and generally being the public face - "ensuring that customers had the best possible experience".
HE STARTED his career in leisure management after completing course at DIT Cathal Brugha Street in 1994. He graduated first in his class with an NCEA diploma in business studies(recreation and leisure) and a DIT diploma in recreation and leisure management - but his career path was not always so clear-cut.
Before starting the then-newly-established Cathal Brugha Street course in 1991, he spent two years studying applied physics at DIT Kevin Street. Gradually he realised his heart wasn't in science and he changed tack.
While he was supposedly studying science, his interest in swimming and coaching continued to be uppermost in his schedule.
He started swimming at Templeogue when he was 11 and swam competitively all through his teens. He became a coach with the Templeogue Swim Club in 1986.
As a result, while still a third-level student, "I was doing more and more swimming, coaching, teaching. Then the course in Cathal Brugha Street turned up."
He is currently head coach with the Shark Swim Club in Galway. He explains why he loves coaching: "It's very satisfying on a personal level. You are the direct link between someone learning a new skill and being successful at it. To have to power to see it materialise before your face is very rewarding."
For anyone thinking of a career in the leisure industry, he points out that the course at DIT Cathal Brugha Street concentrates on the business and management side of the leisure industry.
However, he says, for anyone thinking about going into this area of sports-based leisure, "I would think that they would need to have some sporting background."
