“Every child has a right to enjoy aquatic environments and to be safe in and around water and this could only happen through good education,” says Rae Szulawa, Australian swimming coach.
Rae was in Sri Lanka on a so-far untouched aspect related to swimming: Safety in water and conducted a course at the SSC from October 18 -20 to train swimming coaches.
The course was the first phase of the programme and more programmes, one day courses, and swimming courses for the differently abled, would follow in the beginning of next year in the second phase of the programme.
Ray is currently employed at Austswim, the Australian Council for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety which is backing a coaching programme in Sri Lanka as well. She has been working as a coach for Austswim since its inception 30 years ago as well as conducting courses on swimming and safety in water for over 20 years. “I’ve been on the field for 40 years and I’m the only woman in Australia in this profession,” she added.
It is her seventh trip here and Rae still cherishes her experience as Sri Lanka’s swimming coach during the 1989 SAF Games.
“For that SAF Games, I trained more than 100 children and chose the best 14, including Julian Bolling and with a 1 ½ year training, they won around 40 medals in swimming,” she said, adding that it was a perfect amalgamation of talent and technique.
Rae said that according to estimated statistics, 1000 people drown in Sri Lanka every year. “That is due to the fact that people in general, whether they can swim or not, are not aware of safe practices in water,” she says.
Even though a person can swim in a pool, the atmosphere is very different in natural aquatic environments and people should be able to judge the waters before they get in, she says.
“It also requires common sense, not to go alone when wading into unknown waters and to have someone who could help if something goes wrong,” she said adding that brain damage is frequently seen in people who have been pulled out of the water when drowning. |
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