Monday, 08 April 2019
Platform For Newcomers To Make A Splash In Pool
The Star | 8 April 2019
Girls in the 11-12 age group jumping into the water during Heat 8 of the 50m breaststroke.
Photos: S.S.KANESAN/The Star
THE fourth edition of the Selangor Novice Swimming Meet drew the biggest participation numbers since its inception in 2016.
A record-breaking 918 participants from 30 clubs and schools in the Klang Valley area took part in the competition organised by Pade-Supersharkz in collaboration with the Selangor Amateur Swimming Association (Pras) at the Darul Ehsan Aquatic Centre in Shah Alam.
A total of 607 heats were held across the two-day meet, which is catered to Under-12 novice swimmers.
“We hope to develop more talent at the grassroots level and encourage more participation in the sport,” said organising chairman Marilyn Chua.
She explained that the competition will provide a level playing field for the greenhorns because there is a huge gap in terms of technique and experience between them and the competitive swimmers.
Aquamas Swim Team’s Yun Ern Tham won the Girls 11-12 age group 50m breaststroke finals with a time of 42.18s.
“This meet will give them an opportunity to decide whether they want to pursue competitive swimming in the future,” she said.
Marilyn added that young swimmers tend to lose motivation when they are not winning medals.
“Parents often have high expectations of their children. It is hard to perform well under pressure, this is why many youngsters have decided to quit competitive swimming,” she added.
“Winning is not everything,” she emphasised.
“Most importantly, they will improve their discipline and make friends along the journey,” she added.
As an Olympian, she explained that it takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to succeed at the highest levels and maintain the consistency.
“Winning at a young age does not necessarily translate into a successful career as there are many examples of late bloomers in this sport,” she said.
Being the only novice swim meet in the country, the competition has met with tremendous support from the grassroots level and is expected to continue growing.
Marilyn expressed hope that as much as 10% from the 900-strong participants will be able to breakthrough at the elite level.
“Hopefully, some of them will fly the Malaysian flag in the international arena in the future,” she said.
Chua also expressed her gratitude for the support given by Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd as the main event sponsor and for their support in developing swimming for the past few years.
“They have played a pivotal role in community service programmes like providing swimming lessons at orphanages as well as water safety and drowning prevention campaigns at schools,” she said.
According to her, approximately 20 schools in Selangor have participated in such activities since the campaign was launched three years ago but many schools have also rejected their approach.
“It is very frustrating because these free seminars teach children how to identify the signs of drowning and also how to save lives by using the right CPR techniques,” she concluded.
