The “Get Grenada Swimming” initiative has just finished its 5-year goal to teach 8,000 swimmers between 2016-2021.
Deb Eastwood, Director of the NGO that sponsors Get Grenada Swimming was excited to announce the next 5-year strategy. “We will keep running all our regular programmes over the next 5 years, but now we want to put more emphasis on “teaching others to teach”. We want to certify 100 Professional Swim Instructors between 2022-2027. “
To kickstart the programme, the Sandals Foundation has sponsored the first group of 20 instructors who will undergo 6 months of classes starting 14 December. The classes will be taught by Nataly Regis, Senior Swim Coach at the Ministry of Sports. This is an intensive programme that takes a commitment of 5 days in December and every Saturday from January to June. This programme has also been sponsored by Sandals Grenada Resort in the past, with graduates like Rhea Samuel taking the skills learned and creating a business for herself. Samuel gives 7-15 classes each week, on Grand Anse Beach.
The new programme component, Deb Eastwood noted is aimed at ensuring the sustainability of Get Grenada Swimming by combatting potential funding decline. “We’re giving teachers in this course a business model that would allow them to teach swimming and earn money from it. We also want to give them the incentive to continue the Saturday swim programmes around the island,” said Eastwood. “Get Grenada Swimming is not going away anywhere soon, but sustainability is important to the overall growth of swim lessons on the island. This Instructors programme will get us closer to our mission.”
Heidi Clarke, Executive Director at Sandals Foundation said the philanthropic organisation was happy to support the newest component of the programme. “We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of Deb and her team for not only meeting her goal but taking the next steps to ensure swim culture is deeply rooted into the fabric of Grenada. At the Sandals Foundation, we are very passionate about getting children across the Caribbean swimming. Supporting the expansion of this programme, will undoubtedly help us touch even more lives for generations to come,” said Clarke.
In describing the curriculum, Nataly Regis shared, “Sessions will be both theoretical and practical during every encounter. A total of 3 hours will be allotted for each session, of which half will be theory, followed by practical in the water.”
Introductory level sessions will take place from December to March where participants will be taught water safety, the basic skills in swimming and the components of the various strokes in swimming. This will then be followed by the Intermediate level for another 3 months, where the common errors and drills will be taught, video analysis of the various strokes, the turns, FINA (International Swimming Federation) rules that govern the sport, introduction to sports physiology and planning.
More information on all the Get Grenada Swimming programmes can be seen on their website.
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