Dolphin club praises swimmers

LEARNING TO SWIM like dolphins!That’s the mission of the Dolphin Swim Club which held its annual awards ceremony at the L.V. Harcourt Lewis Training Centre, Belmont Road, on Sunday.As the children learn to swim, they are graded in levels 1 to 5. A Level 1 swimmer must float for at least ten seconds and front crawl ten metres among other standards.“By the time they reach levels 4 and 5, where they are able to tread water for three minutes, swim 15 metres underwater and front crawl 400 metres, they are probably competition swimmers,” explained Master of Ceremonies Mervin Watson.They are the newest members of the Aquatic Centre and have been registered with the Barbados Swimming Association since 2003.Harold Lewis, president and founder of the club, has seen it grow from strength to strength. They currently offer swimming programmes for a membership of about 200 people, from aged three, in the parent toddler programme, to retirees over 70.This year the Corbin Foster Award went to the club’s most outstanding male swimmer, Akeem Nurse, who in a season shaved enough time off his personal best to qualify for upcoming Caribbean International Swimming Competition later this month in Cuba.“He surpassed the 31:04 qualifying standard by swimming 30:72. He has won a partial scholarship to compete in Cuba and has seven training sessions a week in preparation. We expect him to bring home medals.”“Audrey Corbin taught me to swim and it was Maurice Foster’s vision to build the Aquatic Centre,” said Lewis as he explained the designation of the special award won by Nurse.Long-standing former Lodge School teacher Mac Fingall was the featured speaker and he gave a motivational talk to the young people.“Sport prepares you for life, maybe even more than academics. It teaches a lesson of being on time and to win. It teaches you how to accept defeat, that prepares you for life too,” he said. “Sport is serious business. Don’t settle for being the best, it doesn’t mean that you are good! What you do, is your best every time.”