COVID-19 dealt a major blow to humanity bringing life to a standstill. It also affected sportspersons; and in swimming it left the pool’s water still. This is when everything became clear. We could see what’s actually happening beneath the calm surface. It’s not as pleasant as it looked from above.
Ever since the association came into the spotlight in September 2019, things have gone from bad to worse for the swimming community in Goa. No swimming coaches (professional and certified), lack of transparency, no proper opportunities given by the association and no guidance for the young swimmers — this has been the apathy of the swimmers over the last few years.
Lack of qualified and professional coaches
And this has led to a movement, a movement led by parents towards the development of their wards in the swimming. When the association and government failed to lend the helping hand, the parents unitedly joined hands to get the best for their children. What led them to this point? What brought them together? What prompted the parents to unite and help their wards who had the potential of making waves in the pool?
A few years back, Surajit Ganguly was roped in as a coach to train young swimmers in Goa. Undeniably the coach trained the children well, thus bringing laurels to the sport; however, as a person, his role was questionable and his behaviour cost him the job. Ever since then, there has been no professional coach for the swimmers in Goa.
But does this really affect the State association? The Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) and government might claim to have SAG coaches at various pools in the State. But are they really qualified? This is a big question, the authority might not be able to answer.
It is learnt that the coaches provided by the SAG are not qualified swimming coaches. They are swimming teachers. “As per the requirement to be a certified coach, one needs to possess a NIS coaching diploma/degree whereas the coaches provided by SAG are actually swimming teachers, having a certificate course from NIS,” stated a source from the GSA.
Only one certified
coach – in DIVING
It is given to understand that Goa has only one NIS coach Deepak Chhetri at the pool in Panjim. However, he possesses the coaching licence for diving and not swimming. Though the individual is a former National medal winner, he had been into diving. Diving and swimming are two different aspects. Diving doesn’t require swimming and it’s more of a combination of gymnastics and is dynamically opposite to swimming. This leaves the State with no certified swimming coach. The last swimming coach happened to be J Thomas who is retired.
When contacted SAG Executive Director VM Prabhudessai confirmed that they have one coach at Panjim and other swimming teachers across the State. Though Deepak holds a diving coaching licence, Prabhudessai stated, “Diving and swimming are similar. It’s a combine sport.”
Some past swimmers recommended that National swimmers like Afra Shaikh or even Talasha Prabhu could be considered for the coaching positions as the duo have excelled in their field.
So now we know the reason why parents had to take this step. They hired, paid hefty fees and also won laurels under the former coach. But that doesn’t end there.
Govt infra utilised for private coaching
for Goan swimmers
Though the parents hired the coach, the coach was given the government infrastructure (swimming pools) to run his coaching programmes but was the SAG paid by the coach of the swimming association? Fees ranging from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 were charged per individual for the coaching utilising the government infrastructure.
When asked about the infrastructure usage by the coach for private swimming, Prabhudessai stated that the infrastructure was provided for the swimmers of Goa to develop and promote the sport and there weren’t any fees levied. “We had provided the infrastructure for helping the Goan swimmers. If anyone had a problem then they should have asked then and not now,” questioned Prabhudessai.
GSA Secretary Sudesh Nagvenkar stated, “He was definitely using the infrastructure of the SAG and I don’t think he paid anything to the SAG. However, his training benefited the students as we won many medals then.”
But now what’s next? Is the association still waiting for the parents to act again? Having no coach during the entire pandemic phase the swimmers were left on their own.
While speaking to one of the parents Sunil Shingnapurkar, whose children are swimmers, said, “Many children have dropped swimming. There has been no movement by the coaches whatsoever. No online fitness training, nothing. Government just gave us pools and the coaches the SAG has provided are not up to the standards. With those coaches we can’t win Nationals,” Shingnapurkar said.
However, Nagvenkar revealed that due to COVID, it was getting difficult to get the required coaches. But also questioned how and where the athletes would train if the infrastructure itself wasn’t available.
No swimming pools
to train?
We all know about the Campal swimming pool. The swimming pool was closed due to the issues between the contractors and consultant which seemed to have been resolved recently. However, even the Margao/Fatorda swimming pool isn’t available for the swimmers.
“Margao pool is dead and requires major repairs with estimated cost of approximately 40 lakhs. The processing is done but only the financial approval is left. So if these are the cases in Goa, where would the children swim?” Asked Nagvenkar. “Coaches are secondary, first we need the pools to train,” Ponda pool is also closed as they have some issues with the chemicals, Nagvenkar revealed.
Goan contingent
for Nationals?
It is learnt that the National swimming is likely to be held in October and GSA would be sending their team for the same.
“I don’t know how the Association can send swimmers for the Nationals without considering the qualifying time. I don’t think we might have a player to represent Goa if they consider the qualifying time. The association isn’t giving the same since it would be an embarrassment for them. So to play safe they send the first and second place winners in the respective categories,” Shingnapurkar added.
Shingnapurkar added that these problems are overseen and neglected by the members of the association, who are rich enough to send their children to other States/countries for the training.
Why delay in roping in National aquatic agency?
It is pertinent to note that the Goa Swimming Association president Digambar Kamat, who is also part of the Swimming Federation of India could have brought in Glennmark Aquatic Foundation or similar academies to the State, when he and the National federation have tied up with these academies across the Nation, however, he didn’t bring them to Goa.
“To solve this issue, and help every swimmer in the State to pursue their dream, along with my colleagues Mandar and Nilesh Borde, we met Glenn Saldanha and managed to get a Glennmark Aquatic coach for training. However, the same cannot be resumed due to the incomplete swimming pool at Campal,” expressed Sunil, who revealed that further request was made to shift the coaching base to Mapusa, but no efforts have been made by the concerned authority.
When tried contacting Digambar Kamat, the Leader of Opposition failed to answer the call. However, the secretary came into his defence and said, “We want to get it in Goa, but the question about why we couldn’t get it earlier is because of various reasons. Here the culture is different. Swimmers quit after their 10th standard and also the fact that there is no infrastructure for us to use,”
“Glennmark wants to come and help us but even if they come now we don’t have any infrastructure to use. Panjim is not ready, Fatorda cannot be used and Mapusa we have received no updates. Moreover the pools are closed.”
Money collection in
the past a scam?
Parents in the swimming association have claimed that the association used to charge money from the parents during the nationals in assurance of returning the advance once they would be paid by the concerned departments. However, till date, no money has been refunded. (It can be noted the kit had various sponsor logos on the same).
When asked the same to the Secretary of the Swimming Association, Nagvenkar stated that it happened prior to his term and he is aware of it. “I don’t know why the money was collected from the parents by the previous office bearer. I don’t know what has been done with the money. We usually don’t collect money from our swimmers,” stated Nagvenkar.
Government has been repeatedly claiming to have the best infrastructure ready for most of the sports and yet is continually developing further projects. Is it right to just develop white elephants then create a sporting atmosphere for the sportspersons by providing qualified coaches and other benefits to the athletes? Is the government concentrating on infrastructural projects more because of the money which is involved in the same? Or is the government neglecting the growth of the sportspersons as there is no money involved in getting coaches and winning medals? We all know the answer.
