Mpumalanga Province Swimming (MPS) played host to an African Swimming Confederation (Cana) training camp at the Van Riebeeck Park swimming pool from January 22 to 27.

Internationally qualified coaches from various African countries put the participants through gruelling training sessions during the first five days.

The training camp was concluded by the African Grand Prix Gala on Saturday. This gala was an official World Aquatics sanctioned event, funded by World Aquatics, and offered the South African swimmers the opportunity to swim qualifying times for Swim South Africa (SSA) national and regional events.

Important delegates who attended the training camp and gala from SSA included Alan Fritz, the president, Jace Naidoo and Zigi Malusi, vice presidents, the CEO, Shian Adriaanse, and the renowned International Olympic Committee member, vice president of World Aquatics, and president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee, Dr Sam Ramsamy.

National SSA swimming coaches, Graham Hill and Dean Price, were in attendance as well.
According to a press release from MPS, 120 swimmers from 40 African countries partook in the Cana training camp, with 137 swimmers competing in the gala afterwards.

“The purpose of the continental training camp was to give support to the development and improvement of current and future international standard swimmers throughout Africa.

“The training camp was headed by the South African national swimming coach, Hill, and assisted by South African Olympic coach Cedric Finch.

“Swimmers from South Africa and 22 other African countries attended the week-long training camp,” said Emile van Veenhuyzen, president of Mpumalanga Province Swimming.

“The training camp also focused on skills transfer to other coaches from Africa. Three swimmers from Mpumalanga who impressed the national coach during the national training camp earlier in January at Van Riebeeck Park also partook. Neil Burger, Miela Banza and Lys Banza had the opportunity to train with some of the best swimmers in Africa under the guidance of the national coach,” said Van Veenhuyzen.

The three local swimmers were selected by SSA to compete in the gala.

Burger’s best event was in the 50m butterfly. He bagged a third place.

According to Jasper Venter, the Banza sisters’ coach, they really enjoyed the training camp. “To have so many Tokyo Olympians at one venue was a wonderful experience. The girls got to meet Ramsamy, which was a great highlight of the camp,” Venter said.

Miela swam the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, the 100m and 200m freestyle, as well as the 200m individual medley. She achieved personal best times in the 50m breaststroke and the 200m freestyle. She recorded a season’s best time in the 200m breaststroke. This was her main event against Tokyo Olympian Rebecca Meider.

Miela qualified for the South African Junior National Championships to be held in March in Durban.

Lys took part in the 100m backstroke, the 50m and 100m breaststroke and also the 100m and 200m freestyle events. She was not far off her personal best times, which is good for this time of the season, with some galas remaining to compete in. She achieved level 3 qualifying times.

During the week and behind the scenes much work was put in to plan for the future of Mpumalanga Swimming.

“Mbombela has become a venue of national and international interest for Swimming South Africa and allowed a delegation to meet with the management and political leadership of the City of Mbombela Local Municipality and the Mpumalanga Department of Arts, Culture and Sport (DSRC), which included MEC Thandi Shongwe on the Friday.

“High on the agenda was the desire to establish a relationship aimed at elevating the status of Mbombela as a training and competition venue of national and international interest, which will allow more national and international training camps and swimming competitions to be hosted in Mbombela. Obviously the exposure to and opportunities for local swimmers will be of great benefit in developing swimming in Mpumalanga, which includes open water swimming and water polo to be added as a new official aquatic sport in Mpumalanga.

“The City of Mbombela Local Municipality and the Mbombela Stadium management provided excellent assistance to ensure Van Riebeeck Park Swimming Pool was in excellent condition for the hosting of the CANA event. MP Swimming is also excited about the interest the City of Mbombela and the DCSR has expressed in supporting Swimming South Africa’s initiative to use Mbombela as a venue of national and international interest,” said Van Veenhuyzen.