SWIMMING: Sink or swim?

SINKOR SWIM?

WATER SPORTS

Words & Photos: Eunice Visagie

THE SPORT OF SWIMMING NEEDS THE RIGHT PEOPLE, with the right vision and the right plan. According to Pierre

de Roubaix, who has been involved with swimming in South Africa for the past 36 years, the sport is on the brink of a real explosion if the right structures can be set in place.

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“WE HAVE ALL THE POTENTIAL FOR THE SPORT TO REALLY TAKE OFF, BUT WE MUST NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF TOP ADMINISTRATORS IN THE SPORT,” SAID DE ROUBAIX, WHO IS THE HEAD COACH OF MATIES SWIMMING AT STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY.

“It is crucial that we get high-performance coaching and development right, and the OPEX programme is a step in the right direction,” said de Roubaix. SASCOC’s (South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee) OPEX (Operation Excellence) programme is the premier programme for prospective Olympic and Paralympic medalists, and consists of three different tiers that provide varying degrees of funding and support.

Along with the OPEX programme, the appointment of a head coach for the national swimming team is another good decision that has been made for the future of swimming in South Africa.

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Commented de Roubaix, “You need a vision in place for the team. Swimming is a team-driven sport and therefore it is important to work together. The training camps we had before the 2012 Olympic Games in London were really good. It created a vision for the team to work towards. It focused the energy.”

The medals that the country’s top swimmers, like Cameron van der Burgh and Chad le Clos, have been winning are also helping to raise the profile of the sport and giving it much needed exposure. In addition, youngsters have someone to look up to and aspire to be like them. When le Clos got the better of Michael Phelps, arguably the best swimmer ever, it made a lot of non swimmers sit up and take notice. Van der Burgh’s gold medal in 2012, in the 100 m breaststroke, was the first individual gold medal a South African male swimmer has won at the Games.

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For de Roubaix, the lack of top female swimmers is currently an issue. “We don’t have a female Chad or Cameron. The problem is we are training the women the same way as the men,” added Karen Hugo, also from Maties Sport. “Female swimmers need to be trained differently and the current training for women is not specific enough. In addition, we don’t have any top female swimming coaches. For female-specific training, it is important to have female coaches training our female swimmers,” added Hugo.

This is quite a turnaround from the 1980s and 1990s, when the top coaches in South Africa were actually female. “Remember the days of Penny Heyns, Marianne Kriel, Annette Cowley, Karen Muir and Joanne Harrison?

They were top swimmers. Not only in South Africa, but in the world. We had way more world-class female swimmers than males. However, that has totally swung around. Now, all the high-performance coaches are male. There are no more female coaches at the top,” said de Roubaix. Hugo added that sadly, there are no plans in place to develop female coaches, thus the situation won’t change any time soon.

BOTH DE ROUBAIX AND HUGO ARE BOTH OF THE OPINION THAT BECAUSE SPORT IS NOW PROFESSIONAL, COACHES NEED TO BE ABLE TO DO FULL-TIME COACHING. “Coaches previously had day

jobs. That can’t be the case anymore,” said de Roubaix.

De Roubaix commented that it is also crucial that more facilities are made available. “Our lack of facilities is a real problem in developing the sport.

Remember, swimming is a life skill. By giving communities access to swimming pools, we can help develop the sport. To do this, we need an effective plan and one that is put in place at school and club levels. Then we need the right people to drive this plan forward and see that it is actioned correctly. Sport is a business now and like any business swimming needs a good, dynamic CEO. We need to step up and be professional. SASCOC has a vision and it is not a bad one.”

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IN FEBRUARY, MATIES OFFICIALLY OPENED THEIR 50 M OLYMPIC STANDARD SWIMMING POOL. THE OPENING OF THE NEW SWIMMING POOL AT THE UNIVERSITY HAS BEEN THE FULFILLMENT OF A DREAM FOR MATIES SWIMMING. “At last, the university now has a

high-performance aquatic sport centre and all water sports will benefit from it. In addition, the facility can be used by the students as well as the community for recreational exercise. It is important to note that this is not a water park though!” said de Roubaix.

The new pool is generating international interest, and this is something that we can now entertain.

Stellenbosch has already proved to be a very popular training destination for local and overseas professional athletes from across various disciplines, but with the pool it will be even more popular. •

SWIMMING EVENTS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2014: 07-12 April: SA National Aquatic Championships - King’s Park swimming pool, Durban 22-23 May: African Youth Games - Gaborone, Botswana 23 July-03 August: Commonwealth Games - Glasgow 27July-10 August: 15th FINA World Masters Championships - Montreal (CAN) 16-28 August: 2nd Youth Olympic Games - Nanjing (CHN) 03-07 December: 12th FINA World Swimming Championships 25 m - Doha (QAT) For a full calendar of events, including other disciplines, visit http://www.swimsa.org/

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