Swimming: Fina Swim for All – Swim for Life Course |18 February 2020

The coaches during one of the training sessions

Coach Olivier Nibourette gains more water safety awareness knowledge

La Digue-based swimming coach Olivier Nibourette is now better equipped to help the sport’s local governing body to fulfil its work plan and meet the national swimming objectives and policy after completing a three-day training programme in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Hosted by the Confédération Africaine de Natation (Cana), under the patronage of the Fédération internationale de natation (Fina), the programme – Fina Swim for All - Swim for Life Course – gathered instructors from 19 African countries.

It followed the successful completion of the same programme in 2017 in Thailand where the Cana Bureau agreed that this was an important initiative and held huge potential for the growth of aquatics on the continent.

The training was also the point of discussion at the Cana general meeting held in Korea, where a partnership between the association and the ISTA was set up with the aim of introducing the Learn to Swim Programme in Africa.

Other than being a sport officer with the National Sports Council (NSC), Nibourette is also the coach of the La Digue Veuve Swimming Club, affiliated with the Seychelles Swimming Association (SSA).

According to the SSA which recommended his participation, his new qualification will further promote swimming on La Digue and Praslin as a sport and improve water safety awareness.

Other than Seychelles, the other African countries who sent representatives to attend the training include South Africa (host), Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Mauritius, Malawi, Zambia, Egypt, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania.