Flip ‘n’ Fun and the FINA Diving World Series event being held in Sheffield are being used to try and bring more youngsters into the sport.
As part of any major event a legacy programme is developed so that members of the public can be directly affected by the investment in hosting such events in sporting venues.
The FINA Diving World Series legacy programme sees these two elements joined, with a Flip ‘n’ Fun schools competition being launched this week with the help of Beijing Olympic hopeful, Jodie McGroarty.
Flip ‘n’ Fun is designed to provide the first layer of the Athlete Pathway in Diving. It teaches basic skills through a five-stage approach. Sessions take place both on dry land and from the poolside, guiding and developing children’s confidence and ability to try new skills in a safe and rewarding environment.
The competition gives schools the opportunity to provide a Flip ’n’ Fun Diving Competition within their school swimming galas and provide the opening for pupils to compete in a different aquatic discipline.
It can be delivered after a minimum of 1-2 sessions depending on the school availability.
The event will run as a swimming event would, with children competing under their school year it must be delivered in a pool with a minimum depth of 1.8 metres.
The main emphasis on the event is fun and will provide the children with their first experience of competing in diving.
The competitions will run over a number of days and the winning school will have the opportunity to be involved in the FINA World Series opening ceremony and attend the event.
A set number of Flip ‘n’ Fun Continuing Professional Development courses (CPD’s) will also be delivered in the Sheffield area during the May half-term to Level Two Swimming Teachers so they are educated and can be involved with the schools competition.
Further to this, during the same week Ponds Forge International Sports Centre is holding a Flip ‘n’ Fun promotion in partnership with Sheffield City Council to target Leisure Providers, Local Authorities, County Sports Partnerships and School Sports Partnerships and local swimming and diving clubs.
Young volunteers from local clubs in the Sheffield area will also be given the opportunity to become involved in the volunteering programme.
These volunteers will undertake a training day at Ponds Forge on all aspects of organising and delivering a Flip ‘n’ Fun competition, including Team Manager, Refereeing, coaching, announcing, producing results and judging.
The volunteers will work with allocated schools at the Flip ‘n’ Fun taster sessions and competitions, under the guidance and mentoring of the Level Two Swimming Teachers, the Regional Diving Development Officers, Sheffield Sports Development Officer and local diving coaches. The ASA will also look to continue projects like this throughout the year.
The legacy programme has been created in partnership with the Amateur Swimming Association and Sheffield City Council in order to create a sustainable programme, which will continue after 2008.
For more information on the FINA Diving World Series (Sheffield) please CLICK HERE.
For more information on Flip ‘n’ Fun please email Rebecca Burrows on rebecca.burrows@swimming.org
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For further details contact Steph West, British Swimming Media Assistant, on 01509 632 236, 07917 876 459 or email stephanie.west@swimming.org
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association) British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
UK Sport works in partnership with national governing bodies and distributes National Lottery funding each year through the World Class Events Programme to support their bidding and staging costs, as well as providing specialist technical support. Since 1997, UK Sport has supported more than 80 events of World, European and Commonwealth status
www.uksport.gov.uk
Sheffield City Council's Major Sports Events Unit have attracted this event to the City and work with other major sports events owners to attract national and international events to the city - on average more than 30 each year.
Sheffield is committed to hosting a full programme of sports events throughout the year and it is the sheer number and diversity of events that underpins Sheffield as an events capital. The City's programme enhances Sheffield's image on the national and international stage, in addition to providing huge economic benefit to the city.
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