National Volunteer Week 2025

As part of National Volunteers Month and National Volunteers Week April 27-May 3, Swim Ontario would like to thank our hard working volunteers who give their time and commitment to help our sport and community on a daily basis. We will be highlighting many of our wonderful volunteers over the next few weeks.

Setting the gold standard is what most people aim for in life.

Pick the career professional. Even the individual who takes time to volunteer at just about anything. The goal is always focussed on doing your best. It’s a message that’s genuine and truthful.

Fran Fairley’s journey in life has involved all of that.

As an educator, she taught music in high school for more than three decades. She’s still a teacher. This time, as a Level 5 master swim official who is tutoring, mentoring and always looking for ways to educate. Fairley is always searching for ways to fill vacant spots left because of an aging population of aquatics officials.

Principles and beliefs can also be hard to change as folks get older.

As an official, the importance of abiding by rules is something else that needs careful monitoring and especially as it relates to the world of sport. There are no reminders needed for Fairley. She may be inquisitive - but is also very well knowledgeable of regulations.

What becomes quite evident in a friendly discussion is a clear fact that she hasn’t budged from what she’s been doing so well for years. Yes, there are adjustments. However, the outcome is the same. She does the job – and that’s all aspects of officiating - the way it should be done.

Articulate and focussed, Fairley is quite active, passionate and aware that swim officials can’t play favorites. Rules are – rules.

She’s also 81 years of age.

For Fairley, there is quite a bit of personal history, which is fascinating in many ways, that is filled with affection, dedication and brilliance.

Check out these numbers. Married for 52 years. A swim official for 45 years. A teacher for 34 years. Here’s another statistic. In her teenage years, she also scored 39 points in a basketball game while at Chatham Collegiate.

While she has fulfilled her dream job of teaching teenagers, she’s made it clear that being in a classroom with students at the elementary level was never in her plans. In fact, a mere mention of it opens the conversation to an unpleasant reaction.

Times have changed and Fairley has adapted to the younger crowd. It’s happening through lessons that she conducts in front of her grand piano at home.

“It’s patience, you need it so much in everyday life,” said Fairley, who earned two diplomas in music and graduated with a degree from the University of Western Ontario in London. “Back in the 1960’s, there was a shortage of teachers - and I was able to combine my love for music with teaching.”

Born in Saskatoon, Fairley briefly lived in Chatham before moving on to Hamilton – a city where she secured her first teaching job (because, she claims, it paid more money). She would retire in 1998 from Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School.

Worth noting, is that it’s the school where a shining star would emerge playing a different kind of music. Basketball fans might not know that it was where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander graduated before emerging as an elite athlete and all-star in the National Basketball Association.

“My initiation to (swim) officiating was in 1980 - and I ran programs even though I had no certification credentials,” she recalled. “You took courses on the go – to be a timer, judging turns, learning to be a starter and referee. I enjoyed it immensely and never looked back.”

An experienced official, and one who has volunteered hundreds of hours, things have gone very well for Fairley. People who know her, and others who have benefitted from observing her in action, testify to her excellence.

“I’ve made mistakes, everyone does, but there haven’t been many for me over the years,” she quipped in a telephone conversation while reminiscing over the years and the countless meets that included Ontario high school swim championships. “As an official, you always want a situation that is fair for everyone. It must be that way.”

As the oldest master swim official still on the job in the Steel city, Fairley has adjusted her schedule, choosing to be selective in what she’s comfortable accomplishing as a volunteer.

“I will continue doing what I can until I, well, am no longer able to do so,” she said. “I enjoy watching people who I have mentored. Four of them have become master officials. I am also quite strict and will tell people if I see they’re not doing the job properly – but I’ll do it with a smile on my face.”

Volunteering can be a chore for some. Not for Fairley.

“I like to hang around with young people – those in their 30’s, 40’s and even 10-year-olds,” she said. “It makes me enjoy life even more. There’s lots of passion, not power, in what I do. As an official, you need to be in control and always focus on fair play.”

National Volunteer Week is from April 27 to May 3. It’s a time to reflect on the exceptional impact volunteers have on communities. In Canada, the theme is “Volunteers Make Waves” – an opportunity to highlight the power and impact of volunteer efforts.

David Grossman is a veteran multi award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster with some of Canada’s major media, including the Toronto Star and SPORTSNET 590 THE FAN, and a Public Relations professional for 50+ years in Canadian sports and Government relations.