Swimming Federation of India announces a new partnership with Australian sports education

New Delhi, October 13: In a bid to promote aquatic sports and to help swimmers and coaches reach their fullest potential in their journey to achieving best results at the International level, Swimming Federation of India President RN Jayaprakash and Secretary-General, Monal Chokshi on Tuesday (October 13) announced that SFI has entered into a strategic partnership with Moregold Sports for the purpose of developing a world-class Swim Coach Education, Development and Certification Pathway for India.

"SFI: CEDCP will be the cornerstone in revolutionizing how competitive swim coaching is delivered in India. This is one of the key elements in the road map SFI has charted for the development of competitive swimming in India," RN Jayaprakash, President, SFI.

Moregold Sports advisory team will be the "Knowledge and Implementation partner" for SFI to create and deliver a pathway for swim coach development at par with the leading programmes globally. "This project has also received the approval and financial grant from FINA under the OASP support to NSF's," added Virendra Nanavati, Executive Director, SFI.

Managing Director of Moregold Sports, Wayne Goldsmith said, "We are delighted to be working with SFI and with the swimming coaching community in India. We see this partnership as an outstanding initiative providing a world-class coach education, development and training opportunity for Indian swimming coaches: one which will lay the foundations for future generations of Indian swimmers to realize their potential".

"Good coaching and great coaches change lives," commented Goldsmith. "Coaches do much more than just teach kids how to swim a few laps of a swimming pool. Coaches can inspire the hearts and minds of young athletes to believe that anything is possible and that they can achieve remarkable things. The program we will be delivering for SFI includes all the topics and themes one might expect from a swimming coach education program including how to coach swimming skills, how to improve swimming technique, how to enhance swimming speed, how to apply sports science to the coaching of swimmers etc. - but we're also committed to a holistic approach where Indian swimming coaches will learn how to connect, engage and most importantly inspire swimmers."

The virtual Press Conference held on Tuesday also highlighted other key elements in SFI's strategic roadmap which includes creating a national database of swimmers, coaches and academies. A systematic talent scouting structure and protocols, review of competition structure and national pool and athlete development pathway are also some of the key features of the strategic roadmap developed by SFI.

"We are trying to build a strong foundation for the future, focusing on identifying talent at a very young age. The partnership will help implement a long-term athlete development plan from junior to the elite level. We currently have four swimmers in the top 100 World U18 rankings, this shows we have no dearth of talent but we need to provide the right support and exposure to the existing talent while we go about adding to the list," stated Monal Chokshi, Secretary-General, SFI.