FINA is pleased to report that a series of development initiatives were put in place this autumn around the world.

To start with, a successful FINA Swimming Schools for Officials was hosted by the Lithuanian Swimming Federation in Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, from October 13-14, 2015.


©Lithuania Swimming Federation

The School welcomed 68 participants out of which 40 came from the host Federation and 28 from 9 different Federations (Austria 2, Belarus 4, Czech Republic 1, Estonia 1, Great Britain 2, Georgia 2, Israel 7, Italy 1 and Latvia 8).

As per all programmes established by FINA, the objectives of the School were to enlarge the number of officials and enhance the quality of the existing ones, in order to create a uniform pattern of interpretation and application of the swimming rules, thus raising the quality of officials and to use the course as an instrument to develop and promote Swimming worldwide.

Furthermore, from October 21-23, 2015, Malaysia Swimming organised a FINA Diving Judges Certification Course attended by 17 participants coming from Great Britain, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Macau, Singapore, Taipei and the USA. The big majority passed the course without difficulty.  


©Malaysia Swimming

 
During the course in Kuala Lumpur, diving philosophy and golden rules were reviewed and the referee’s duties were assessed. The course aimed to connect the participants to knowledge and experience to further develop the practice of diving, and aquatic sports in general, in their respective countries.

The certification course took place in concordance with the FINA Diving Grand Prix as the event stopped in the Malaysian capital for the eighth and penultimate leg of the circuit.

Another FINA Diving Judges Certification Course took place the following week in Gold Coast, Australia, where the final leg of the Grand Prix was held.

In 2015, six Diving Judges Certification Courses were organised with the financial and administrative support of FINA- 2 in Europe with Rostock (GER) and Amsterdam (NED), 2 in Americas with Pereira (COL) and Gatineau (CAN), plus the two mentioned above.

In addition to the Certification Courses, three FINA Diving Judges Development Schools were held over the course of 2015; in Singapore on January 24-25, in Sri Lanka on January 30-31 and in El Salvador on June 14-15.

Finally, earlier in the season, from September 16-20, 2015, the Kyrgyz Swimming Federation and the City of Cholpon-Ata, on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, offered a FINA Clinic for Swimming Coaches.

A total of 26 coaches from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan took part in the programme to understand the benefit of higher altitude training. The lake of Issyk-Kul, where the training centre is located, is 1600m above the sea level and provides a unique opportunity for coaches to develop their knowledge in regards to the highland training methods in mountain climates which naturally boosts the athletes’ performances.


©Kyrgyzstan Swimming

 
Reports showed that both the invited participants (KAZ) and the organisers (KGZ) were satisfied with the clinic and best practice exchanged.