Water Mates was founded in 2019 by Tern Jian Han, whose passion for swimming began at the age of 6 and continues to this day. As a former national swimmer, he created a structured syllabus for Water Mates that guides every swimmer through a joyful learning journey — from building water confidence to progressing into competitive swimming.
Our mission is to deliver safe, enjoyable, and effective swimming education that builds every child’s confidence in the water. We are dedicated to nurturing Malaysia’s next generation of competitive swimmers and supporting their pathway to compete on the international stage.
With years of experience and a strong belief in positive, joyful teaching, Water Mates is committed to offering a trustworthy and supportive environment for all families.
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.png "Tern Jian Han")
Tern Jian Han was a part of the Johor state swim team at a very young age, and was chosen to join the national team when he was just a teenager. From there, he went on to represent Malaysia in various swimming competitions such as the FINA Swimming World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, and the Southeast Asian Games, where he broke the national record for 200m backstroke short course(FINA World Cup), 50m backstroke long course(Commonwealth Games finalist), and 4Ă—100 Medley Relay(Southeast Asian Games 2017). We are proud to say that he is still the current national record holder to this day!
Coming to his early 20’s he went on to study the Sports Science Degree at University Malaya, where he continued to train and compete internationally while studying.
Nearing his mid 20’s, after more than 10 years of representing Malaysia in 4×100 medley relay and various backstroke events, coach Tern finally decided to retire from competitive swimming, and took the SSI Level 3 course. After which he started a new chapter in his journey, and founded our one and only Water Mates Swimming Academy. What started as a small swimming centre in Kepong back in 2019, is now a proud swimming academy operating in 3 different areas: Kepong, Kota Damansara, Subang Jaya, and more to come!
.png "Norman Nyau Wee Yen")
Coach Norman is a highly experienced coach who has done a lot of training. His coaching career started all the way back in 2008 where he was an assistant coach for 5 months. He then started coaching for numerous swimming clubs such as the Pirates Swim Club and Super Swimmers Swimming Club. Throughout the years 2012-2018, he was even appointed as the swimming head coach for Johor & Terengganu SUKMA games, and has a joint training with the Thailand National Swim Team.
Not only that, coach Norman’s portfolio even showcases an abundance of qualifications, which includes: