Marietta Mehanni

💥AQUA SUMMIT 2026 - Super Early Bird Expires June 14!
https://www.aquaalliance.com.au/

💦 Making One Plan Feel New: Adapting Aqua Classes
Presented by Danise Berger

🔥 You Don’t Need More Class Plans… You Need More Ways to Use Them.

What if one well-designed aqua class could become multiple completely different participant experiences?

In this practical pool session, Danise Berger demonstrates how simple changes in equipment, resistance and movement focus can transform a single class structure into fresh, engaging and effective sessions.

Using one core plan, participants will experience how:

✔ Noodles
✔ Hand buoys
✔ Kickboards
✔ No equipment options

…can each create a different training flavour, intensity and class feel.

This session is designed to help instructors:

✔ Reduce planning overwhelm
✔ Increase creativity and confidence
✔ Adapt classes to different pools and participants
✔ Make better use of available equipment
✔ Keep programming fresh without reinventing everything

Danise Berger is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist and Clinical Exercise Specialist with extensive experience in rehabilitation, disease management and group fitness. Through her work in multidisciplinary health settings, Danise uses aquatic exercise as a powerful tool to support movement, recovery and long-term wellbeing.

This is the kind of session that reminds instructors that smart programming is not about doing more…

…it’s about using what you already have more effectively.

📍 AquaSummit 2026
📅 24–25 October 2026
📍 Sydney

💥 SUPER EARLY BIRD pricing available now! SAVE AU$165
🎟 Join us for a weekend of practical pool sessions, innovative ideas and instructor inspiration.
https://www.aquaalliance.com.au/

AQUA SUMMIT 2026 - PRE-CONVENTION

Older adults deserve more than a casual splash.

The Older Adults Update 2026 challenges outdated ideas about ageing and aqua fitness, giving instructors practical tools to create purposeful, engaging, and evidence-informed programs.

💦 Learn how the ageing body responds to movement in water
💦 Explore communication and inclusion strategies
💦 Discover practical programming ideas you can apply immediately
💦 Build confidence working with diverse and mixed-ability participants
💦 Understand the role social connection plays in long-term participation

Featuring presentations and practical sessions with:

✔ Jess Adkins-Barber
✔ Irene Pluim Mentz
✔ Stacey Aldous
✔ Amanda Bos
✔ JSP

📍 Sydney
📅 Friday 23 October 2026

💥 SUPER EARLY BIRD ends June 14

Workshop Only: $245
Or bundle with AquaSummit 2026 for even greater value.

Register here 👉 https://www.aquaalliance.com.au/older-adults-update-2026

The pelvic floor conversation instructors have been asking for.

Pelvic floor overload is rarely caused by one exercise.

More often, it's influenced by breathing patterns, cueing habits, timing, and programming decisions.

If you've ever wondered:

💦 Should participants brace?
💦 What about jumping and impact?
💦 How do I modify without removing the challenge?

This workshop is for you.

📅 Sunday 26 July 8.30am - 11.30am AEST
💻 Live on Zoom
🎥 Full replay included
📚 4 AUSactive CEC points - 2 REPS points

⏰ Early Bird AU$99 ends June 27.
REGISTER HERE 👉 https://www.mariettamehanni.com/product/programming-with-pelvic-floor-awareness/

💥AQUA SUMMIT 2026 SUPER EARLY BIRD EXPIRES JUNE 30!

💙 Inclusive Aqua in Action: Tips and Techniques for Instructors
Presented by Jess Adkins-Barber

💦 Inclusion Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated. Sometimes the smallest changes create the biggest impact.

In this practical and highly relevant session, Jess Adkins-Barber shares simple, effective teaching tools that can help instructors create more inclusive, supportive and engaging aqua experiences for a wider range of participants.

You’ll explore:
✔ Layered cueing techniques
✔ Basic Auslan signs for pool deck communication
✔ Positioning and modelling strategies
✔ Sensory-aware teaching approaches
✔ Simple ways to support participant confidence and engagement

Best of all, these are practical ideas instructors can immediately apply in their very next class.

Jess Adkins-Barber is a swim school owner, educator and inclusion leader recognised for her work in equity, inclusion and workforce development across the aquatic sector.

Through The Little Swim School, Jess supports over 1200 swimmers, including a large neurodivergent community, using trauma-aware and learner-centred teaching frameworks.

Still actively teaching and working in the water each week, Jess brings real-world experience and practical strategies that support both participants and instructors to thrive.

This session is about creating classes where more people feel welcome, supported and successful.

📍 AquaSummit 2026
📅 24–25 October 2026
📍 Sydney

💥 SUPER EARLY BIRD EXPIRES JUNE #) SAVE AU$165. + Pre-con tickets and bundles available 👉 https://www.aquaalliance.com.au/

🎟 Join us for a weekend of education, innovation and practical pool deck learning.

💥 AQUA SUMMIT 2026 SUPER EARLY BIRD - SAVE AU$165

🏃 Run Deep, Train Smart: A New Perspective for Your Classes and Career
Margaret has worked with elite athletes and teams including NRL clubs, the Japanese National Rugby Team, the Opals, Hockeyroos, Australian defence forces and high-performance swimmers, including Ian Thorpe.

Deep water running is far more than just another aqua class.

It’s an opportunity to diversify your programming, attract new participants and create challenging, low-impact training experiences that support both fitness and rehabilitation outcomes.

In this dynamic session, Di, Marg, Heather and JSP bring together decades of experience in coaching, instruction and deep-water training to explore how deep water running can support:

✔ Fitness and conditioning
✔ Athletic training without joint impact
✔ Rehabilitation and recovery
✔ Core strength and posture
✔ Mobility and movement efficiency
✔ Broader participant engagement

You’ll discover practical techniques, coaching ideas and fresh approaches that can help instructors and facilities rethink the potential of deep-water programming.

Di Evans, owner of AquaSparke and experienced Deep Water Running Coach, has developed techniques inspired by land-based run coaching to help clients train effectively in the water while reducing joint stress. Her experience spans elite runners, rehabilitation clients and general fitness participants, always with a focus on movement quality, strength and mobility.

Co-presenting this session is Margaret Ryall, one of the aquatic industry’s most recognised deep-water specialists. Since 1976, Margaret has influenced deep-water training internationally and founded Ryall’s Water Workout Buoyancy Belt in 1988, helping shape modern deep-water running techniques.

Margaret has worked with elite athletes and teams, including NRL clubs, the Japanese National Rugby Team, the Opals, Hockeyroos, Australian defence forces and high-performance swimmers, including Ian Thorpe.

Together, this team brings an incredible depth of practical and performance-based experience to the pool deck.

📍 AquaSummit 2026
📅 24–25 October 2026
📍 Sydney

💥 SUPER EARLY BIRD pricing available now
https://www.aquaalliance.com.au/

One of the biggest mistakes instructors make?

Thinking they need MORE choreography, MORE complexity, or MORE “performance” to become a better teacher.

Most of the time, better teaching comes from clearer coaching.

💥 Aqua Day New Zealand Live Workshop

📍 Coastlands Aquatic Centre, 10 Brett Ambler Way, Paraparaumu, Kāpiti Coast, New Zealand
📅 Friday 4th September 2026
⏰ 9 am – 2 pm (NZST)
✨ SUPER EARLY BIRD pricing is now available at AU$175 until 30 June.

This live workshop is designed to simplify what you already do and help you deliver it with more confidence, structure, and connection.

You’ll learn practical strategies you can use immediately in your aqua classes, without overcomplicating your planning.

And because this is LIVE, you’ll get the chance to practise, reflect, and receive feedback in real time.

Throughout the day, we’ll move between pool and classroom, exploring:

🔹Deep Water Aqua Made Easy
🔹Practical coaching and cueing
🔹Fundamental movement patterns
🔹Teaching structure and delivery
🔹Real-time teaching practice and feedback
🔹The Instructor Edge — Be Seen. Be Felt. Be Memorable.

This is not a sit-and-watch workshop.

You’ll be actively learning, coaching, reflecting, and practising in a supportive environment alongside other instructors who want to become better at what they do.

Learn more and register here 👉 https://www.mariettamehanni.com/product/aqua-day-new-zealand-live-workshop/

💥AQUA SUMMIT 2026 SUPER EARLY BIRD PRICES EXPIRE JUNE 14!

💙 AquaCollab4Health: Creating Safe, Collaborative & Empowering Sessions For Aqua Fitness
Presented by Dr Sophie Heywood

💦 People Don’t Just Remember the Exercises… They Remember How They Felt.

How do we create aqua classes that feel supportive, safe and empowering for every participant who walks onto pool deck?

In this important session, physiotherapist and researcher Dr Sophie Heywood explores how trauma-informed care principles can positively influence participant experience, engagement and wellbeing within aquatic exercise settings.

This session will explore:
✔ Creating emotionally safe exercise environments
✔ Building trust and participant confidence
✔ Supporting choice, collaboration and empowerment
✔ Understanding lived experience within health and exercise
✔ Reflecting on instructor communication and self-care

Drawing from the AquaCollab4Health project, Sophie shares insights developed through collaboration with aquatic professionals and individuals with lived experience of mental and physical health challenges.

Dr Sophie Heywood is a physiotherapist working across St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Hydro Functional Fitness and Melbourne Sports Medicine Centre. Her PhD explored the biomechanics of functional exercise in water for older adults and people with knee osteoarthritis.

Sophie has also completed research in trauma-informed care within physiotherapy and multidisciplinary rehabilitation teams.

This is a thoughtful and highly relevant session for instructors who want to strengthen not only what they teach… but also how they teach it.

📍 AquaSummit 2026
📅 24–25 October 2026
📍 Sydney

💥 SUPER EARLY BIRD pricing available now! Save before June 14. 👉 https://www.aquaalliance.com.au/

🎟 Join us for a weekend of education, innovation and meaningful industry conversations.