"We don't promise them anything like medals or anything but give them basic skills to achieve things not just in sport but in life.
"We're seeing the benefits not only from schools but the kids also are achieving."
In fact, the former Hastings Boys' High School head boy yearns for the halcyon days when Olympian Jon Winter took the club to national prominence almost a decade ago.
"Jon was pretty awesome. He got it off the ground when it was huffing along and turned it into a powerhouse," he says of Winter who is now the Raumati Swimming Club mentor based in the Kapiti Coast.
Benson, who has graduated from Massey University in Auckland with a business degree, majoring in management, wants to emulate Winter's sense of experience, youth, energy and passion for the club where he has been a member since he was a child.
"I'm back. I've a strong passion. I grew up here and learned swimming here and that set me up for achieving my goals.
"I'm now trying to take the fabulous opportunity I was presented when I was at the club from the age of 11 to give other children that chance."
Four other children of former Junior All Black Pat Benson, who swam the Cook Strait, and Mary Benson, also were club members.
Paul, 25, is living in Melbourne but remains a Sundevil member with aspirations to make the cut as a 100m butterfly swimmer for the Commonwealth Games in Scotland this year.
Chris, 23, of Hastings, plays rugby for NOBM premier men's team as a prop.
Twins Claire and David, 22, also were elite swimmers in their own right.
Claire is pursuing a teaching degree at Auckland University while David is a milkman in the Bay.
A jocular Willy Benson says he jumps into the pool to help kids in a relay but is essentially the person manning the stopwatch.
"I'd like to think I'll get fit just watching but it doesn't work that way."
His businessman father has stepped back from the administrative side of the club but "mum and dad are always supporting us in the background".
Jokes aside, with the coaching Benson's proteges are creating ripples in the pool.
Maraea Tuavera, 11, of Flaxmere Primary School, for instance, is part of an 11-strong contingent heading to the junior nationals at the Kilbirnie complex in Wellington this weekend.
"She's got potential but at this age it's about having fun, getting fitter and picking up skills," he says.
The club is looking forward tohosting the annual Hawke's Bay/Poverty Bay Winter Championship in August, after the Sundevils' meeting on June 7-8.
With the latest electronic nick-nack and "cleanest facility in the country", he can't see why the club can't host more elite meetings.
The latter meeting will offer myriad short-and-sharp events in a bid to lure teams from as far north as Auckland and down to Wellington.
"Hawke's Bay clubs will be out in force but it's always good thing to see kids coming from outside the region to provide better competition."
