31 May 2017

To Thailand and Back

After a long journey, Frank Vira arrived in Thailand for the first FINA Swimming for All clinic with participants from all 5 continental bodies (Asia, Africa, Americas, Oceania and Europe).

Learn to swim and swim development representatives from national federations attended this historic clinic. FINA President Julio Maglione created this initiative to address the need for better access to swimming programs, stating that “We need to work together to make the world a better place. With this in mind, we are committed to providing free programmes to help reduce death by drowning and increase access to the sport worldwide. It is crucial that we continue to address the World Health Organisation’s alarming statistics warning that drowning is a serious and neglected global health issue.”

Frank, who is the Senior Development Officer for VAF, finally got to meet his other comrades in Oceania working on the same initiatives he focuses on in Vanuatu.

The chance to share information with each other on how each country was addressing barriers to learn to swim, such as gender, cultural beliefs, isolation and lack of equipment or pools, sport infrastructure and biggest of all lack of funding was the biggest highlight of the week.

Frank delivered a presentation on some of the work his team is doing this year which will hopefully inspire others to continue reaching out to new swimming communities in their countries.

Click here to see what other national swimming federations are up to in Oceania.