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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
AS clubs prepare for Harare Amateur Swimming first gala of the season on Saturday, they remain positive despite the various challenges they have been facing.
Swimming got approval this week to start their 2020/2021 season competitions.
Zimbabwe swimming chairperson, Tracey Doorman, confirmed they have been given the go-ahead for the season to start.
Harare is expected to have the first meet this Saturday at Les Brown Swimming Pool.
Other provinces are expected to follow suit soon. Harare Amateur Swimming public relations officer, Shingirai Mtetwa, said they were having their first gala on Saturday for seniors although juniors can take part.
“The junior gala (that was) scheduled for Sunday has been postponed until further notice because of the venue issue,’’ said Mtetwa.
“We wanted to have a junior one on Sunday but we don’t have a pool for the juniors.
“We used to use schools pools but now schools are out of bounds. We are just trying to work on it to find a venue.’’
Some of the clubs have been struggling to find training facilities since they use schools and opting for private facilities is expensive.
Most of the swimmers also have school commitments as they try to compensate for lost time.
“Of course, the numbers will be a bit low, some of the clubs have been having 50 percent, 30 percent less, of their swimmers.
“Others have been affected financially, with the pandemic, people have been affected financially,” said Mtetwa. Spartans club representative, Susan Zevgolis, said they were looking forward to the new season.
“We have very little time to be ready but we have got a super dynamic committee and we are all really pulling out all the stops to have everything ready for Saturday,’’ she said.
“And, yes, I have every confidence we will be ready and the swimmers are really happy.’’
Otters have just begun training and club representative, Winnie Muvevi, said it’s not been business as usual.
“The situation we find ourselves in is not very normal, it’s been tough,’’ she said. “We started training later than most (clubs) because our traditional training pools were not available to us.
“Most of us train at schools pools and schools are closed.
“So, in terms of being ready for this gala, I would say if we are going to take part, at all, we are doing so just to fulfil a fixture and to see how galas during this Covid-19 era are going to be like
“Most of our club swimmers are school kids and most of our schools are doing online learning, so most kids will be in lesson during the time that is available for us to train.’’
Highlands coach, Michael Ranken, is confident their swimmers are ready.
“We managed to educate our kids about the pandemic, about what it takes and they are focused.
“We did a mental preparation for them to make sure that they are prepared.’’
Sharks coach, Kathy Lobb, said they could be fielding a limited number of swimmers.
Online Reporter