If there is one sport where Filipinos can easily excel, it’s open water swimming.
Coach Vince Garcia, FINIS Philippines Managing Director, stressed during the TOPS ‘Usapang Sports’ via Zoom, that open water swimming is one of the sports that young Filipinos have a great chance to dominate the world stage if they are given enough help and a proper program.
“Imagine we have more than 7,000 islands. There are so many talents that can be trained and with the right program, we can produce world-class open water swimmers, ” Garcia said on Thursday’s Tabloids Organization in Philippine Sports, Inc. ‘Usapang Sports’ via Zoom.
Garcia said that open water swimming –an aquatic sport that is already part of the Olympic program– will be given close attention and care by FINIS Philippines to strengthen the sport’s grassroots development program and help the country in producing world-class Filipino swimmers.
“We have in the pipeline Open Water Swim Races 5K and 10K debuting in May. We’re finalizing the details. Right now, we’re still open for collaboration so we can do more tournaments for our youth,” Garcia added at the weekly sports forum sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission, Games and Amusements Board and PAGCOR.
Currently, the return to face-to-face action in age-group swimming and triathlon is the top priority of FINIS as it organized the 2022 FINIS Short Course Swim Competition— three series of competitions for the best age-group swimmers in the country — which will begin with the Luzon leg to be held on March 26 and 27 in conjunction with the Kids of Steel Triathlon at the New Clark City Aquatic Center in Tarlac City.
The Visayas leg is set for April 23 and 24, as well as the Mindanao leg on May 28 and 29 and the National Finals on June 4 and 5.
“We have tied up with the Triathlon Associations (TRAP) for the age-group triathlon program. The original plan was to include the elite tournament, but we decided to focus on the children first because they need some form of relaxation after almost two years of lockdown,” said Garcia.
“Currently, we have already 300 registered swimmers and still counting. Open sa lahat. It’s easy to register dahil may online registration, Register now @ https://register.raceyaya.com/event/finis-swimseries-luzon. For Kids of Steel, just register @https://register.raceyaya.com/event/finis-sprint-triathlon,” said Garcia.