Kirsty Coventry to assess Byo swimmers

The visit to Bulawayo by swimmer Kirsty Coventry next month is one of the sport's season highlights, according to the Matabeleland provincial swimming board. Coventry is Zimbabwe's most successful swimmer.

Eddie Cyprianos, the Matabeleland Swimming Board chairman confirmed Coventry's visit yesterday.

He said he met her last week in Harare and she promised to visit the City of Kings to see the state of the sport on the ground.

"Last week I had the chance to speak to Kirsty Coventry and she said she would love to come to Bulawayo and see the situation on the ground.

"We are happy that she has promised to come and her visit will obviously raise the profile of our sport and it will also serve to inspire many other budding swimmers. She has previously stayed in Bulawayo so it will be like a home-coming trip for the star who left  the city aged about 10," said Cyprianos.

He said a number of activities had been lined up for the swimming season.
Cyprianos said the first event of the year will be on 14 September at the City Pool. He said it will be an all age-groups event.

Clubs expected to take part include Zambezi Tigers from Victoria Falls, Falcon College, Crusaders, BG Dolphins, Penguins, SOS of Burnside, the only club with a heated pool, and Barracudas.

Cyprianos said on 20 October swimmers from all over the country will travel to the Eastern Highlands city of Mutare.

The next notable event on the calendar will be the Matabeleland short-course competition on 4 November before the Matabeleland Championships from 29 November to 2 December at City Pool.

He disclosed that some swimmers will travel with the Zone Six team to Zambia for the regional junior championships in December.

Among some of the early events will be the Matabeleland Junior Championships ahead of the annual Level Three Swim in South Africa.

"Besides there will be other club and school competitions coming up along the way. We look forward to a highly rewarding season," said Cyprianos.

With Coventry having announced her retirement, Cyprianos said, it was not all doom for the sport as there were some up-and-coming swimmers who just needed sponsorship and nurturing.

He said what was needed was for the swimmers to participate in highly competitive environments such as in South Africa and abroad where there is digital and tap pad timing.

"Some of our swimmers are on scholarships and have shown a lot of promise," said the provincial body chairman.

He however lamented the fact that there were no heated pools for use by a majority of the swimmers. This, he said, tended to limit swimming to just about 27 weeks when athletes needed at least 44 weeks.

"We need heated swimming pools and if our City Pool was a heated pool, swimmers could be having access to the facility for the required period. Swimmers are expected to break for just eight weeks with the rest spent on training and competitions but ours do not have adequate swimming time," said Cyprianos.

He said James Lawson, Nicholas Bennet, Sloane Marshall, Andresious Cyprianos and Trevor Price were among the country's most promising boys.

Tyrene Rennie, Samantha Welsh, Kerrie Smith, Natasha Roosh and Avlon Bruce were some of the stars among the girls.

Cyprianos announced that two swimmers who had previously done the province proud, Luke and Jamie Isemonger, had left for South Africa.