Seychelles Swimmers Association's Selfless act. . .

Hi fellow yogis:)

I had the wonderful privilege of taking part in a two week swimming camp offered to a group of vibrant youngsters.

A two week intensive swimming training camp organised by the Seychelles Swimming Association for local swimmers who have been training regularly with the SSA during the year. This year it is at its third edition. Training, morning breakfast, juices, fruit, cereals, milk, water, lunch and afternoon snacks are all included. 

The focus is on intensive training. Swimmers do two hours of swimming in the morning and two in the afternoon, attend to several talks that cover nutrition, psychology, first aid notions, Olympism etc. Their age is approximately 11 years onwards, but I think the majority are among 12 and 14. After swimming they are engaged in other activities such as table tennis, volley, jogging, basketball, and YOGA! 

They all received a free medical test on Friday at the Sports medical unit, at Stade Linite. During swimming training they were also tested for speed and endurance and will be tested again at the end of the two weeks to see how the training worked for them. They are all pretty good swimmers, some in the junior team, some already in the National Seychelles Swimming Team. 

The training is the focus of the camp, but kids also benefit from participating in all activities as a group. We are trying to make them understand that through sport they can be role models and they will all be actively engaged in the special day with the children from some of the orphanages in Mahe, who will come to the pool. In this occasion, the swimmers will demonstrate strokes to them and spend a fun day together. There should be aqua aerobics, playing in the pool and other stuff... 

Miss Seychelles will address the kids and there should be some more formal addresses, as well as press coverage.  

What a wonderful way to encourage the youth to stay focused and directed to a healthy, active and goal orientated life, motivating their fellow youth to follow in their footsteps.

I had a group of 25 enthusiastic athletes for an hour yoga session, eager to take on some challenging postures. They responded fantastically and made it a fun experience both for me and everyone around them.

Here are some of the photos taken on the day...

(Courtesy of NikiGowerPhoto.com)