BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Tutong to launch Learn to Swim programme
THE future of Brunei’s swim team might just be in Tutong.
The Tutong branch of the Department of Youth and Sports is set to launch a ‘Learn to Swim’ programme on June 1 aimed at introducing the five aquatic disciplines to budding young athletes in the district, with the hope that some of them will eventually progress to the national team.
The programme has been in place at the Mumong Sports Complex in Kuala Belait for more than a year and resumed on March 12, with 67 swimmers taking to the pool in the most rudimentary training scheme for the sport in the country.
At the newly built Aquatic Centre of the Tutong Sports Complex, however, there has been no such programme until now.
National swim coach Eva Wong said that over 100 children have registered for the twice a week programme in Tutong.
The cornerstone of the plan is a 12-week period where the coaches will teach the basics of swimming such as floating, treading water and the various strokes.
After the three months, the coaches will decide whether the swimmers have what it takes to reach the next level the Department of Youth and Sports scheme.
If they make it to the scheme they will be divided into the three aquatic disciplines that the Sultanate has coaches for: swimming under Wong, diving under Chinese coach Cheng Wei and synchronised swimming under Indonesian coach Nuranna.
Wong said that those who continue to make waves, so to speak, will make it to the national team.
Those that don’t will have the chance to get selected for the national water-polo team under Salleh Hj Tahir, if they so choose.
The head of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports Coaching and Development Unit, Kipli Hj Jaafar said that the swimmers will be split following principles of the Talent Identification (TID) programme which identifies athletes with potential and divides them into specific disciplines in order to maximise their chance of success.
This is part of the Department of Youth and Sports’ long-term plan to develop sports in Brunei, said Kifli yesterday.
“Most of the department’s efforts have been concentrated in Bandar Seri Begawan, but the time has come to develop sports in all four districts. Attendance will be taken and we require an 80 to 90 per cent attendance record. It’s just like in school, if the swimmers miss a class they will fall behind,” he explained.
When the TID programme was announced in March, Kifli promised that it was the way forward.
“What we try to do is to select the best talent and develop them further. Some of them have no experience in any sports. With this programme we can turn them from zero to hero.”
Even the Director of Youth and Sports, Hj Mohamad Panglima Asgar Dato Paduka Hj Abdullah paid tribute to TID when the programme was in the limelight two months ago.
“Youths that excel in the TID tests would then be developed further and if they meet the criteria that have been set, they would go from basic (scheme) training to high performance (national) training.
“The TID programme is closely related to the long term plans of placing sport coaches in every district in the country … to increase the ability and achievements of sport individuals to a higher level,” added Hj Mohamad.
The Aquatic Centre of the Tutong Sports Complex is just the right place to get to this ‘higher level’.
Opening its doors to the public in March, the centre can take pride in an international standard 50 metres pool, a 20x10m children’s pool and a 250-seat grandstand.
About B$4.8 million was spent on the building which started construction in December 2008.
With arguably the best swimming facilities in the country, the complex which only lacks a diving board is set to enjoy a surge in numbers when it comes to the Under-17 age group which the ‘Learn to Swim’ programme caters to.
The Brunei Times
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