After 2-year hiatus, swimming camps boom

By Manjunath Hadimani | NT

Swimming academies across the city, which opened their pools after a two-year-break owing to Covid-19 curbs, are witnessing a huge rush with the launch of summer camps.

The opening up of pools has given children the much-needed exposure to outdoor physical activities. Some of them want to learn the nuances of swimming while others are keen to polish the skills they acquired two years ago.

Many swimming academies in the city offer summer camps. Prominent among them are Basawanagudi Aquatic Centre (BAC), Nisha Millet’s Academy (NMA) and Global Swim Centre (GSW).

BAC on Pampa Mahakavi Road finished its first batch of summer camp on April 19 and started the second batch on April 21 which will continue till May 10. The third batch is expected to be held between May 12 and 31. They also allow the public on an hourly basis charge of Rs 40.

Chandrashekar, an official at the BAC, told News Trail that the response from the children has been huge. “We had around 950 children for the first batch. More than 1,000 children are being trained under the second batch. The number is expected to go down for the third batch because children will be preparing for the school reopening at that time,” he said.

He said people are still worried about the Covid with rumours of the fourth wave around.

Certification
NMA, which is spread across the city with branches at different places, finishes its current camp on May 10. The next camp is expected to start on May 9. They also allow the public on an hourly basis at their pools in Koramangala and Domlur. Nisha Millet, first Indian swimmer to qualify for the Olympics in 200 metres freestyle and head coach & founder of the NMA, said around 1,500 children are training in its academies in Bengaluru. “One coach will look after eight children at our camps. We train a maximum of 24 children in one hour,” she said.

“We offer different levels of training such as Tadpole, Starfish, Turtle, Frog, Dolphin, Shark and Allstars. Even after the summer camps, we have regular training classes in the evenings. We also offer weekend classes on Saturdays and Sundays. There will be 12 classes per camp with certification,” said Nisha.

‘Swimming is fun’
Jayaraj, head coach at the Global Swim Centre in Sadashivnagar, pointed out that there has been a decrease in the number of children after the Covid. “Currently we have around 400 children training in our camp. Swimming camps are basically a fun way to spend the summer holidays for most children but if they want to pursue it as their career we have regular classes where we train them to be professional swimmers. Public can use our facility by paying Rs 50 per hour,” he said. GSC’s next batch is set to start on May 1.

Parents too are happy that their children are involved in such activities after two long years. Shivakumar, whose 6-year-old is registered for the 2nd batch in BAC, claimed. “We had a lot of trouble holding our kid inside the four walls. It is a good feeling to see our kids like this playing and having fun. It’s very hard for kids to get locked up inside and even harder as parents to manage them. Hope everything becomes normal very soon,” said Shivakumar.