PANJIM: Michael Phelps Swimming, a global swimming program for all ages and abilities and taught in over 30 states in the United States and over 20 countries on six continents, will be launched in Goa on October 12, beginning operations at various locations across the State.
This was announced by Hilary Phelps of Michael Phelps Swimming, and Jolene Blanche of Terrapin Swimming Academy. The Michael Phelps Swimming program is being brought into India by Waveline Sports and taken into expansion with appointing Terrapin Swimming Academy in Goa.
Michael Phelps is the owner, President and CEO of Michael Phelps Swimming. Phelps is passionate about growing the sport of swimming and getting more children in the water. As a child, he learned to swim in a school in North Baltimore, called North Baltimore Swim School. It was there that he learned water safety and overcame his fear of water. Now, after many accomplishments, both in and out of the water, he is able to invest in the very program that taught him. By launching Michael Phelps Swimming, he advanced his dream to grow the sport of swimming and promote health and active lifestyles.
Jolene Blanche of Terrapin Swimming Academy started swimming at very young age of two and has been coaching for the last 15 year. She swam for Goa State and nationals and started her coaching career for Nishas school, Goa. She is currently a swimming trainer at Crown Hotel for the last four years and recently underwent a rigorous training in America to learn the MPSS method of training. She is now the Aquatic Director of Terrapin Swimming Academy which was established three years ago.
Cathy Bennett, who was Michael Phelps first swim instructor, has carefully constructed this program over 30 years. With degrees in child psychology and early childhood education, she has developed a program that focuses on building comfort, confidence and a feeling for the water in each participant.
Speaking on the occasion, Hilary Phelps of Michael Phelps Swimming, stated that her immediate responsibility is to teach the swim instructors the Michael Phelps way of swimming. She added “The Michael Phelps instructors are what make this swim school special. In addition to any existing certifications and credentials, every MP Swim School instructor is trained in a proprietary MP Swim School instructor course. This ensures consistency in teaching the MPSS way of swimming. Every swimmer has a different goal in the water. Recognizing this fundamental principle is what makes MPS instructors and students successful”.
Hillary explaining the further on the program “Rather than teach by cause and effect and “box checking” of skills, our method is to holistically teach learning strategies for life long swimming safety, all of which are based on what we call the 4B’s of swimming: Breathing, Balance, Buoyancy, and Breath Control.
“We believe that quality instruction is not just based on the basic motor skills of kicking, stroking, and rhythmic breathing. In addition, we feel that our swimmers need to understand the properties of the water (what we call the hows and the whys). We feel it is paramount to develop the whole person, mentally and physically. This is why our participants, in addition to learning personal safety, stroke technique, and rescue skills, also learn how we float, why we need to have certain body positions, why we breathe rhythmically, how we achieve balance in the water, and why we need to feel the water; just to name a few of the things we teach,”
Jolene Blanche – founder of Terrapin Swimming Academy stated that “This is a wonderful opportunity for Goans to learn to swim and this program aims to provide aspiring swimmers the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of the sport with a proven and successful method. We are excited to see MPS program across 3 locations in Goa and we are looking forward to train 3000 participants through this program at our locations. Currently our focus remains to work on grass root levels to have a strong foundation of Swimmers to get ready at competitive levels for the nation.”
