In excess of 1000 children and parents showed up at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown for the opening of the “Teach Them Young” swimming programme on Monday morning, in what is being hailed as a landmark for the event.
To be precise, this year’s “Teach Them Young” programme registered over 1500 children, who will benefit from the Government-funded initiative.
The programme will last two weeks at four locations across the country, as children learn the valuable life skill of swimming.
Another benefit to be derived from the programme is the spotting of talent – something the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association’s (GASA’s) President Dwayne Scott is optimistic about.
“We’re extremely grateful at GASA for this initiative, since coming out of this programme, we will see a new bunch of people interested in the sport. Perhaps taking up the sport as a habit and at some point, becoming competitive swimmers,” Scott shared with the mammoth crowd.
Labelling the number of registrants as historic was Director of Sport (DoS) Steve Ninvalle, who regarded the Government’s commitment to sport in the same light.
Ninvalle explained, “And I would like to start off by saying this is a historic day. It is not only a historic day because of the number of participants that we have at this programme, but it is historic because the level of organisation and the way we have continued to listen to Associations is a microcosm of how the Government of Guyana is working towards developing sport in Guyana.”
“Never before have we had in swimming, or in any other programme run by our Ministry, this amount of participants,” the DoS added.
Also touching on the subject of commitment to sport was Subject Minister Charles Ramson Jr, who highlighted to parents their role in ensuring partnerships remain beneficial for all.
