Following the incredible success of the annual Easter Vacation Swimming Programme in April, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, in collaboration with the National Sports Commission, will start its inaugural adult ‘Learn to Swim’ initiative on Saturday.

The programme, which will be conducted every Saturday and Sunday during the month of June, will be conducted at two facilities, the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal and the Colgrain Swimming Pool, Georgetown.

The initiative will commence from 14:00hrs-15:00hrs and 15:00hrs-16:00hrs respectively during the period. The National Aquatic Centre will be utilized on Saturdays while the Colgrain Swimming Facility will be used on Sundays. An opening ceremony will take place Saturday at the National Aquatic Centre from 13:15hrs. Experienced national coach Paul Mahaica will serve as the coordinator and lead trainer. The initiative is being formulated to be introduced to other parts of the nation, namely Linden and Berbice, during the month of July. To date, more than 1200 individuals have registered for the impending project.

Director of Sports, Steve Ninvalle stated, “Overwhelming is an understatement with regards to the response to the programme. We have received over 1200 applicants and counting, which is on the heels of the historic 2200 participants garnered for the recently conducted Easter Vacation Swimming

Programme. The success of the Easter programme clearly aided in the response to this novel initiative and once again highlights government’s commitment in charting a developmental agenda and path for the development of its most important resource, the human capital. Once again, the programme is free of cost and will be financially undertaken by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the National Sports Commission.”

According to Ninvalle, “Safety will once again be our guiding light. We are cognizant of the huge turnout and will employ the requisite safety standards and protocols to ensure an incident free venture. An environment that is not only safe but conducive to learning is what we strive for and will achieve during this period. That is essentially for its success and its continuation.

“This event is simply the template or beginning for the enactment of a national programme. We are currently in the planning stage of rolling out the initiative

to other parts of the country. Enquires have already been forthcoming by interested parties and regions but the process will be done in a structured manner. It will be undertaken one step at a time but an expansion is definitely on the cards for a programme that has all the ingredients of a national platform.”

Meanwhile, Mahaica during brief remarks said, “This is a very important programme. The numbers that are registering and we are starting in Georgetown indicates the eagerness for the opportunity. People are excited and can actually do something that they would have wanted to learn which was only afforded to their children. Now they also have the opportunity to learn a life skill for free.”

He further said, “We are utilising 32 coaches during this programme. I am seasoned to this programme and the coaches are individuals that worked on the previous camps and are very experienced and ready to work.