Oscar Zerafa Gregory
Obesity and swimming records
The National Pool has functioned for 16 short and hugely successful years. Besides fostering and pushing waterpolo talent to peaks of international levels undreamed of by its football equivalent, it also engendered an exponential increase in pure swimming activity.
This activity starts sharply at 5.30 a.m. My 10-year-old son is there at 5.45 - 7.15 a.m. and 4 - 6 p.m. with his club team.
I am there with a bunch of other Master swimmers at a similar time in the mornings and Saturdays.
This awkward timing is necessary because 95 per cent of the pool is reserved for waterpolo only during 6 - 9 p.m.
Waterpolo remains the priority at the National Pool because it and the 1993 GSSE Games created the pool.
Back then, local swimming greats were severely handicapped because of no year-round pool availability period.
Despite these limitations, this excellent pool has produced local swimming champions, international level triathletes, a long distance swimmer now training to cross the British Channel and top-notch coach Isabelle Zarb who has just returned from a course in the US under the tutelage of her personal coach being Michael Phelps himself.
School children and swimmers of all sorts of abilities and disabilities can now use these facilities previously undreamed of.
It is because of training in this pool that I, along with 40 or so others, swam across the Gozo - Malta Channel this summer raising thousands of euros for charity.
The very success of this sole Olympic-size pool in Malta has now outgrown its current size and availability.
The sport has evolved so much that we, as a nation, need to rethink and push on to further its success. I propose as immediate short-term measures to:
• Extend its opening times from 5 a.m. - 11 p.m. instead of 5.30 a.m. - 9 p.m. If demand keeps increasing then one should consider 24-hour availability.
• Turn the diving pool into a swimming pool. Diving has not picked up and it is a screaming shame to let this pool idle in winter.
If we demolish the diving board section this will increase the available surface area and the material excavated can be used to make this diving pool shallower and, therefore, cheaper to run.
This would reward the whole nation with another sorely-needed pool at a minimal capital cost.
If this is not an option then, please, let us use it at it is all year round.
Exacerbating unavailability, the pool is scheduled to close down on November 22 for maintenance that will last about two months.
True, our best swimmers are not yet up to scratch with the best of the best internationally but, please, let us not stall their progress.
National records are being regularly broken at all levels every three weeks during swim meets at the National Pool.
Two swimmers have just returned from a swim meet in Sheffield, UK where they broke 12 national records. Our athletes are national heroes who richly deserve the nation's backing.
I know they give their hearts out every session holding nothing back.
Let us do the same and further the evolution of this fantastic sport.
Swimming superpowers like the US and Australia back their athletes with a total guaranteed in-house package aimed at their scholastic, sporting and nutritional excellence.
Our national swimming team, on the other hand, helps subsidise the ASA by an out-of-pocket financial contribution to help pay for their entrance into the pool area and their twice daily coaching, which, incidentally, also starts at 6 a.m. sharp followed by another session at 4 p.m.
Maybe granting the national swimmers free entrance to the pool and coaching is too much but, at least, give the nation decent pool availability; nothing more.
Certainly, the winter running of this extra pool will be at a cost but the time of linear thinking is past. We have just won the greatest no prize of all.
Our children have recently been certified as the most obese in Europe and our hospital is bursting at the seams with patients and waiting lists.
The government, I hear, is considering granting free fruit to children to promote healthy eating.
The operation of this extra pool will help further engender healthy lifestyles away from fast food and weak hearts. Building a healthy nation costs money but which will, in the long run, repay itself many times over by reducing the ever-inflating national health bill.
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Sandra Schembri
Nov 19th 2009, 15:29
I agree with the article especially the part where too much importance is given to football and not other sports like swimming ,kayaking and running. The standards of these sports keep improving each year. Unfortunately it is still very expensive and difficult for youths to take part in these sports full time. I agree with the part of the diving swimming pool, things should be more tailor-made for us Maltese.
michele calleja
Nov 14th 2009, 15:40
well said oscar. yr article only came ot my attention today.
my son is one those 11yr old who trains along with Oscar's son at 530am. this was prceded by another famioly member, my sister, who used to train at ungodly hours way back in the erly 90s. back then along with Gail, i CAN MENTION ROBERTA stelini, simolne xerri de caro, jonathon valletta, christiaN gialanze ETC, who all came from the schoolb of swimming who trained at the old Hilton.
very little resources are available to our swimmers, whilst football nursereis had hundreds of thousand of euros given to them to help install artifical turf all from the Natioanl Lotteries Good Causes Fund. well done to these clubs but nothing gets channeled to the nationalk Pool.
Does the change of filters necessitate 6 weeks or is it a good excuse to save money on heating? why are the heat blankets not being used? and yes, how about turning the diving pool into a season pool, using a 'golf baLL'm cover for it?
COME LETS BOOST SWIMMING, WE CAN GO PLACES WITH THIS SPORT, AND WE HAVE TO REMEMBER ONE THING. MOST OF TODAYS WATERPOLO PLAYERS ALL COME FROM SWIMMING
Manny Said
Nov 12th 2009, 09:44
Well done Oscar... great words and even greater message.
I am one of the enthusiast amateur swimmers mentioned above. Swimming for me is more than just an exercise - it is a way of living and establishing a healthy lifestyle away from the medical what nots that come in profusely in middle-aged lives. I believe I set an example for my own kids - who now train swimming as avidly as I do. For my family, the Pool is more than a pool.
With months' closure, refurbishment presents a serious risk issue for our health habits, as might possibly be for most of the other swimmers. Many issues spring to mind at this stage - why now and not in summer when swimmers have open sea options available? Why now when all other heating swimming facilities are jam packed with waterpolo and schools' training sessions? Why does the National Pool not open 24 hours daily when it is heated throughout the same period (what a waste)? Why is a canopy unaffordable at the National Pool? And why does maintenance take its toll for so long?
I just wonder...
M.O. Micallef
Nov 11th 2009, 12:55
If the management at tal-Qroqq invests in a pool cover, it would save around half the heating costs!! Also they can transform the small pool into an indoor one, or have a means of having it indoor just for the winter months.....come on there are so many creative minds...!
Oscar Zerafa Gregory
Nov 11th 2009, 10:27
The names of the two athletes who broke the 12 national records in Sheffield are Neil and Andrea Agius. The triathletes are Dermot and Keith Galea. The guy aiming to cross the British Channel is Keith Bartolo. The pre pool great I had in mind is Gail Rizzo.
Somehow the names got edited out from my original draft article. I hope this amends a bit. I forgot to include that the opening of this small pool will also help keep away our kids from drugs. I believe that the annual E1.5m that may go into keeping this small pool open all year are by far out weighted by its spinoff benefits to the whole nation.
Andrew Grech
Nov 11th 2009, 10:16
Just read the article twice over, brilliantly worded, it hits straight to the heart. The message is very clear and the content vey ethical yet drives home a very strong message.
I seriously hope that part of the €500,000 funds allocated to sport organisations as announced in Mondays budget shall be aimed at improving swimming 'structures'.
I too am one of those casual swimmers who twice a week at 6.00am jump in to do my fair share of excercise. i too am one of those who swam the Gozo Malta channel to raise money for charity. i too am one of tose who feels that more attention needs to be given to thw 'swimming' sports activities on the island.
Tonio Agius
Nov 10th 2009, 19:01
Let the media take a page out of other countries' books... an Australian diplomat once told me that the Aussies will support snail racing if the participants are Australian... Instead we support foreign teams... 'Ahna Rbahna' 'Ahna t-Taljani u Nglizi'..... Duh!!! Are we ashamed to be Maltese? Are we afraid to stand up and salute our flag and be proud of even our smallest achievements... Use our youth achievers for advertising and an educational campaign and then obesity be dammed for ever because our youths would love to achieve and be led to heights they only dream of.... In the meantime welcome to the couch potatoes and the evergreen armchair critics that so thrive on giving opinions about all and sundry and fail to realise that our little portion of universe does not only revolve round football and horse racing! Keep up the efort all you young men and women and maybe one day your efforts will be recognised and supported.
Tonio Agius
Nov 10th 2009, 18:55
Well Mr. Zerafa Gregory one can't help but admire your initiative in bringing to attention such a noble sport! Unfortunately I'm a parent of one of our top swimmers who has sacrificed so much for the sport but who has achieved lots for himself and for his country... Yes more pools are in order but these are horrifically expensive to run so at least let's keep our one pool in running order and not close down the whole complex while one of the pools undergoes maintenance. I tend to agree that in the absence of diving then it would be an idea to make that pool shallower and easier to heat. However, what hurts a lot more is that our newspapers and tv stations carry football as the main sport and even worse we are regaled with headline news of worldwide and european football when our young ones are 'busting a gut' twice daily in the pool and in the gym and lest we forget... at school or university at the expense of the social life that so many other youths take for granted!
M.O. Micallef
Nov 10th 2009, 16:13
bet that very few will comment about this article....most of the Maltese are probably reading or writing about their favourite hobby...petty politics, which by the way doesn't help to reduce obesity.
I agree perfectly with you Mr. Gregory...but I am sure the goverment has to do more. I must congratulate the govt. for all the sports complexes opened but I must say that swimming has to be given more importance. I think that at least three more pools have to be opened to cater for the present interest and for increasing participation. These pools must be covered and be as energy efficient as possible....Mr Puli please note.
I also expect more from the ASA in terms of marketing, lobbying etc. in favour of the sport it represents. If you just check its website you can see that it is not even updated with results etc.of events it organizes .
I am sure that in the long run, more people of all ages will be encouraged to participate in this beneficial sport which contributes to the wellbeing of all, reducing the risk of obesity and the government's health expenditure!
Last but not least, eventually, champions will emerge too!