THE historic summer edition of the ‘Teach them Young’ Swimming Programme, organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCY&S), in collaboration with the National Sports Commission (NSC), was launched yesterday at the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal. The programme, aimed at children between the ages of six and 18-years-old, is the third initiative of its kind for this year, following the successful Easter edition and the recently concluded ‘Adults Learn to Swim’ platform.

Minister Charles Ramson Jr., who conceptualised the event, was present to officially open the swimming camp, along with Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle.

The ‘Adults Learn to Swim’ programme, held in June, was a direct result of the popular April ‘Teach them Young’ initiative, which attracted over 2000 participants.

The programme will be conducted at four facilities across the country to reach a wider audience. These facilities include the National Aquatic Centre in Liliendaal, the Colgrain Swimming Pool in Georgetown, the Watooka Swimming Pool in Linden, and the Albion Estate Pool in East Berbice. The experienced national coach, Paul Mahaica, will once again serve as the programme co-ordinator and lead trainer.

During his address, Ramson Jr. underlined the importance of skill-sharing and setting goals.

He stated, “As your kids grow, it’s all about achieving goals. Set small/ realistic goals and move step by step towards them. And, the more they get comfortable by taking these steps, the more comfortable they will become in achieving goals.”

In addition, the Minister of Sport led the warm up of the attendees and even demonstrated how to do a conventional push-up.

The overwhelming support for the initiative has been described as a proverbial tsunami by Ninvalle. He noted that, “I am really happy to be a part of this event. Mostly because I am seeing progress as we move forward. We started this year with the Easter Swim programme where we had over 2000 persons registering. Now in Georgetown alone, we have over 2000 registrants for the summer programme.”

Ninvalle concluded that it is the aim of the NSC and the MCY&S to have as much Guyanese as possible equipped with the valuable life skill of swimming.