Swim for your life

Fri, Jun 20, 2014

Editor: I left Rose Place feeling elated with the outstanding performances in the annual Fisherman’s Week open water swim, organized by the Swimming Federation, in conjunction with the GoodWill Fisherman’s Cooperative and the Inivershall Rastafari Movement. At this event, nine year-old D’Israeli Telemaque won all events in his age group and Meschack Pierre was outstanding in his age group.{{more}} I was so proud that this group of swimmers, who had participated in the Mustique Charitable Trust (MCT) grassroots programme, were continuing to do so well.

But my mood soon changed when I heard of the drowning of a father and son at Sans Souci. Such a joyful day in one part of St Vincent, and such a tragedy at another bay side. These all too frequent drownings in St Vincent are caused because many Vincentians lack the life skill of swimming. Surrounded by water, swimming must be on our national physical education curriculum. It is a matter of life or death.

I often hear that the beaches on our Windward side are unsafe to swim. Yes indeed, many are rough. However, if Vincentians could swim, the beaches would be much safer! One thing about a good swimmer is that she knows when water is too rough to swim, and she knows what to do when she meets a strong current. This is all part of the lifesaving skill of swimming.

The Swimming Federation is doing all that it can to address this problem. We have initiated a grassroots swimming programme aimed to teach swimming and to improve swimming skills of children, particularly in coastal communities across St Vincent. This programme is 100 per cent funded by the Mustique Charitable Trust. So far, we have had groups from Layou, Rose Place, Bequia and Calliaqua. Each programme is 12 weeks and then we move to another community in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The inspiration to take the programme to Bequia came after two swimmers swam from Petit Canouan to Bequia after a boating accident. The Swimming Federation will be sending one of those swimmers, Trevin Williams, to Mexico to attend an international swimming festival in September.

The Federation and its clubs work to ensure that there is some continuity after each programme ends. Credit goes to Blue Marlins swim club for enlisting three swimmers from Rose Place onto their club at the end of the grassroots programme. In Bequia, we are training coaches to continue an open water programme after the MCT one ends.

As part of this drive to teach this nation how to swim, the Federation is raising funds to increase the size of the pool from three lanes to six. While one hears much of our outstanding swimming athletes, let us not lose sight of the fact that swimming is not just a sport, but it’s a life skill that we should want for all of our children. Let us make our beaches safer by equipping our children with this life skill.

Louise Mitchell Joseph

Vice President Technical Swimming Federation