Sophie Gibson, Rebekah Paul, and Patrick Harris, all of Queenstown, and Nikayla Bolch, of Cromwell, have been training up to 16 hours a week, juggling time in the pool with studying for NCEA level 1 and 2.
Sophie has also been selected to represent the South Island in a national zone competition - a pilot run by Swim New Zealand to create a pathway to national representation.
Swimmers from 17 clubs in the South Island have been selected for the Makos team to contest a one-day competition in Wellington next month, pitting the best swimmers throughout the country aged 15 and under and 16 and over.
For the past nine weeks, the swimmers have been under the watchful eye of instructor Daniel McLennan, employed through a joint venture with the club and Alpine Aqualand.
Club vice-president Caroline Gibson said the previous coach, Frank Wylie, had been with the club for 16 years, but after he retired in April, the club realised it could not afford to employ a full-time coach.
''He [Mr McLennan] needed more hours than we could give him, so we went to the council and said we wanted to attract him [to the club].''
A sharing arrangement was proposed - Mr McLennan could be employed by the council for about 10 hours a week and help with Alpine Aqualand's Learn to Swim programme, assist with pool crew and also help with school swimming programmes, while the club would also employ him to train its rising stars.
''The whole council has been great. [Mayor] Vanessa van Uden has really helped and with this new structure ... we have an excellent relationship,'' Mrs Gibson said.
It is a remarkable turnaround. Four years ago the club and the council were at loggerheads, with the former petitioning the council for more access for independent learn-to-swim classes at Alpine Aqualand, feeling commercial operators were being shut out of the facility at the Queenstown Events Centre.
QLDC recreation programmes team leader Jendi Paterson said it was a ''fantastic'' progression.
''At the end of the day we have the ability and resources to work in partnership and collaboration with our community groups and clubs.
''In this instance, for the Queenstown Swim Club to attract a full-time quality squad coach such as Daniel they needed some assistance from us.
''It was a no-brainer from our end. Daniel will provide our swim school with his wealth of knowledge and our current instructors and co-ordinator can help expand his Learn to Swim skill set, setting up a sustainable swimming environment for our current and future swimming community and hopefully together we can help attract short-course meets to Alpine Aqualand.''
The aim was for the two organisations to work together to create better pathways for swimmers.
The swim school is teaching children how to swim and the club is taking it a step further, involving them in squads and introducing them to competitive swimming.
The ultimate goal was having more people participating and achieving.
Mrs Gibson said the new arrangement was ''ground-breaking for Queenstown'' and children were already reaping the benefits.
''It's the first time it's been done [here] - Daniel is a very qualified swim coach ... [his] focus on technique and a variety of training [methods] is improving the performance of the squad.
''He's done an awesome job of working with the kids and getting them to the level where they will PB [set personal bests] . . .
''Most of our kids are seeded in the top 10 in their races at the moment. That's an awesome achievement.
''We would hope these kids would go away and make finals ... some of them are medal contenders.''
Additionally, the club had ensured Mr McLennan, who, before he moved to Queenstown was living overseas and had a mentor in Thomas Ansorg, a former Olympic swimming coach and now North Shore Swimming Club's head coach.
''We had a relationship with Thomas and [Daniel] now has a mentor at the highest level. It will benefit him and our athletes, because through that we're getting access to cutting-edge techniques.''
Ms Paterson said Mr McLennan was a huge asset to the community.
''We're looking forward, very much, to working with him and having him involved in our Learn to Swim programmes.
''Across our business he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. We believe he'll fit into the team and we'll be able to learn from each other.''
Mrs Gibson said the next focus for club would be looking at attracting bigger short-course events to Queenstown.
''We've got the facility, we've got the people [to run a meet]. The next step will be attracting [events].''
