Here’s about Swimming Program.
Swimming enthusiast Wesley Campbell, who had two daughters swimming at the RBC Swimming Nationals, has teamed up with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture officials to conduct the 1st 'Bahamas National Learn To Swim Pilot Program', at the Betty Kelly Kenning National Aquatics Center.
The pilot program has just under 100 children between the ages of 4-17 registered, and will run for the next two weeks between the hours of 10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. As the program's coordinator, Campbell is being assisted by Ministry of Education Senior Lifeguard and Swim Instructor Raymond Farquharson and the Swim Center Director Kevin Colebrooke.
According to Farquharson who is also affiliated with the New Providence Primary Schools Sports Association (NPPSSA), this pilot program is different from the government's 'Learn To Swim Pilot Program' in that it is a continuous endeavor and not restricted to just the summer season.
"The short term goal once the 'pilot program' is completed is to keep these children as active as possible in swimming. The ones who want to continue swimming, we are willing to work with them. We first of all start off by getting the children comfortable in the water, teach them how to blow bubbles, how to stream line, how to do a flutter kick and then put all the strokes together. As it stands now, some are interested in this program just for relaxation or health reasons and some would like to become elite or competitive swimmers. In addition, we are trying to get swimming in the primary schools curriculum in time for this new school year, then at the end of the NPPSSA swim season, we would like to have a competition. A lot of the children attending the pilot program are government primary school students and they are improving," explained Farquharson.
According to Campbell, his daughters Celia and Leslie Campbell, who are members of the Sea Bees Swim Club encouraged him to coordinate this pilot program.
"I normally swim up at Montagu on Saturdays with them (daughters). There are so many children who go out there and don't know how to swim, so their parents asked me to teach their children how to swim. One thing led to the other and now we have a mixture of children from all over. When this program is completed, we want to work with the ministry to put an elite program in place and get some of these children involved with it. Some of them may want to go on to become competitive swimmers," noted Campbell.
Campbell added that "a real" national learn to swim program can afford great economic opportunities, even for the children who don't want to become elite swimmers. He said that the local economy can be expanded by at least 25 percent if the majority of children in The Bahamas have basic competency in swimming.
"Right now there are some 800 children who are members of the local clubs and it is not representative of the 65,000 children living in The Bahamas, so we want to continue to work with the children. During school time we want to make arrangements with the ministry so that the children can have access to the facilities between 9-3.
"The is room out there for something to develop and benefit not only children in Nassau but also in the Family Islands. I think a good swimming program would compliment a good literacy program. Look at the maritime career opportunities, 95 percent of our children are denied these opportunities because they can't swim. If we had a real learn to swim program in our schools, a lot of problems we have in our schools would disappear. The impact is immeasurable," explained Campbell.
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