WORLD AQUATIC DAY A SPLASHING SUCCESS!

Good Hope pool was the home to the first ever World Aquatics Day Celebrations held in Grenada on Saturday July 14, 2018. The Grenada Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) and the Grenada Youth Adventurers (GYA) hosted a fun meet for novice swimmers from around the island.

With over 120 children participating, World Aquatic Day has been hailed a resounding success by the organisers. Over the past year GYA has held a series of free Saturday swim classes on 7 beaches, across Grenada. The locations include Waltham in St. Mark, Grenada Marine in St. David, Grand Mal, Grand Anse, Sauteurs, Bathway, and Carriacou. Each beach hosts lessons for approximately 2 hours every Saturday.

In January 2016, during the FINA Bureau Meeting held in Budapest, Hungary, a worldwide aquatic day was recognized to celebrate aquatic sports around the world on a common day.

The FINA World Aquatics Day is a day to celebrate and encourage the power of aquatic sports for social well-being and development in all corners of the world. It will be celebrated every year during July, before 19th of the month – the date of the foundation of FINA in London 1908, to celebrate the anniversary of FINA. 2017 was its first-ever, worldwide celebration, which will coincide with the FINA World Championships every two years

Through the sponsorship of FINA, the Grenada Amateur Swimming Association was able to support the facilitation of activities to mark the day for the first time in Grenada. “This is a great achievement,” says GASA President, Peron Johnson “as this type of activity expands the reach of aquatic sports to a wide cross section of the country.” Such activities place a spotlight on the development of various aquatic activities in Grenada.

Non-competitive Swimmers competed in basic events such as 25-yard kickboard, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and relay. Swimmers were awarded with medals for placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd and the top 3 beach teams were awarded with trophies. Grand Anse Beach team was awarded the top spot this year with Waltham and Grand Mal placing 2nd and 3rd respectively. Deb Eastwood, Director of Grenada Youth Adventures, coordinated the day’s activities and dubbed the event a tremendous success.