HAILED as the realisation of a dream, President Donald Ramotar, yesterday declared the warm-up pool of the Liliendaal National Aquatic Centre officially open, before a diverse crowd of swimming stakeholders, school students, sporting officials, and members of the joint services, among others.“A beautiful pool completed, and another dream realised for all of us,” was how Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr Frank Anthony described the momentous occasion.

“Someone once said to me that when you think of swimming pools across the Caribbean you can actually count the swimming pools that are of really high standard and when they visited here and they saw this pool they said we have the Rolls Royce among pools in the Caribbean and that is saying quite something. So we are very pleased with the facility that we have.”
Spectators were enthralled by cultural displays, as they heard of the bright future that the opening of the warm-up pool promises for not only our national swimmers and the swimming fraternity, but for the Guyanese public at large. They heard of the pool’s conceptualisation and the challenges faced and overcome, in brief remarks made by MCYS Permanent Secretary, Alfred King.
Anthony, in his speech, renewed the Ministry’s commitment to maximum utilisation of the facility, noting that the diversity of the audience was no mere coincidence, but part of the Ministry’s tactics to highlight that all of the various institutions would be afforded the use of the pool.
“We also want to enlarge access to this pool. Right now the people who are predominantly using the pool are persons who are swimming competitively but we want to change that. With the 50m pool it was going to be a challenge for those who cannot swim, but with this warm-up pool it is not such a problem.” Anthony said .
Unlike the 50m pool which has a depth of 3 metres and could not be utilised by unskilled swimmers, the warm-up pool is 25m long, 21m wide and has depths ranging from 1.175m to 1.82m, and can facilitate those who are now learning to swim.
Invitations for the facility’s use have already been sent to schools across the country, while he cheerfully announced that an invitation extended to the Joint Services had already been taken up. Additionally, Anthony shared that requests have also been extended to the University of Guyana, as well as the Cyril Potter’s College of Education (CPCE) teachers training college, noting their proximity to the facility.
“We have written to the University of Guyana. We also sent a similar letter to the teachers’ college, CPCE, the reason being we see this as a very strategic move, because we feel that if teachers come here and train, then when they go back to their respective communities and schools, we would have a friend in that area who would be teaching swimming, so we see this as a very good alliance that we could have with the teachers’ college,.” Anthony expressed.
Making the occasion all the more prominent was the presence of International Swimming Federation (FINA) vice-president Dale Neuburger, and South American Swimming Confederation (CONSANAT) president Juan Carlos Orihuela, both of whom are on their first visit to Guyana. In his remarks Nuebruger commended the government on the dynamic investment that they have made.
“It is a beautiful site to me, and it is a great investment, a great investment in a facility, and a great investment in our kids.”
Also making brief remarks at the ceremony was Director of Sport Neil Kumar, who noted his elation at being part of such a significant occasion.
“It is with extreme joy and a great sense of pride that I stand here this morning on the occasion of the commissioning of yet another state-of-the-art facility, here at the National Aquatic Centre,” Kumar said.
Kumar reminded the audience that the pool’s realisation was testament to the government’s commitment to the development of sport in Guyana.
“One of the many functions of the National Sports Commission and by extension, the government of Guyana, is to provide for the establishment, erection and maintenance of Sports and other recreational facilities. Friends, the construction of the National Aquatic Centre, right here, and the regular upgrade of the Colgrain Pool must be seen as serious undertaking to provide for the development of our swimmers,” Kumar said.

(By Tamica Garnett)