Swim Rotorua's Zariah Lomas, 9, digs in during the girls' 10 and under 100m freestyle at the Aquaknights Junior Swimming Festival in Rotorua. Photo / Stephen Parker
Swim Rotorua's Zariah Lomas, 9, digs in during the girls' 10 and under 100m freestyle at the Aquaknights Junior Swimming Festival in Rotorua. Photo / Stephen Parker
The future of any sport relies heavily on the number of juniors participating and when it comes to swimming, the future looks bright.
From Friday to Saturday, Swimming Bay of Plenty hosted the Aquaknights Junior Swimming Festival, for swimmers aged 12 and under from Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay, Waikato and Taranaki, at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre.
This year's event attracted 397 swimmers which was 60 more than the previous year. 130 of those were from Bay of Plenty.
Swim Rotorua had 20 participants and head coach Aidan Withington said overall, the event went "really well".
"It was a really well run event and the swimmers really enjoyed it. We had some pretty solid results, there were 84 per cent personal bests going through so that's pretty good from the team.
"This event gives them a target to aim for when they're training through summer after they come back from their Christmas breaks. It also gives them a little bit of an introduction to what a national event is about."
Swim Rotorua's Matlida Kiss, 9, swims in the girls' 10 and under 100m freestyle. Photo / Stephen Parker
Withington said the festival was also a good way to build camaraderie within the team and ensure the children were getting enjoyment out of the sport.
"It's an introduction but at the same time, they're having fun. That's especially important at the junior age level. When I'm doing that kind of event, for example during our warm-ups I add more games and more fun stuff to help create that bond.
"You're always trying to group them up to bring them through together through the sport and you can really create those relationships when you have them in an environment like we had at the weekend."
Evolution Aquatics Tauranga club chairman Michael Pugh echoed Withington's thoughts, saying the festival gave the swimmers a friendly, safe environment for a taste of competitive swimming.
"It's probably their first really big, inter-regional meet. It used to be a national event, held in one place, but not they've broken it up into different regions and it's still really competitive.
Evolution Tauranga swimmer Nikolai Ahomiro, 10, races in the Boys' 10 and under 100m freestyle. Photo / Stephen Parker
"It's not overly serious or anything like that, most of them are out to get personal best times and at the top end very few of them chase medals but if they're there to be had they'll get them."
He said the friendships made at events like the festival often lasted for life.
"I use my daughter as an example, she started swimming when she was about 5 and went right through to 17-18 at the swimming club. She's made friends for life, she has friends at university still from swimming and comes back during the holidays and catches up with a lot of them. They go through the hard yards together, they follow each other's highs and lows and have a lot of empathy for each other."
Swimming Bay of Plenty chairwoman Bronwen Radford said the growth in numbers at the event was promising for the future of the sport.
"Entries are up massively. I think the whole idea of a junior festival sort of takes away the scariness for our 12 and unders, without it being a championship. Our 12 and under depth in our Aquaknights zone and Swimming Bay of Plenty alone is really strong at the moment.
"For the kids, this is a fun event, they get some fast racing in a good pool. They get to see where they stand and it's a pathway because after the junior festival some of the top 12-year-olds go up to Division 2."
Evolution Tauranga swimmer Keegan Hodgetts, 9, hits full speed in the boys' 10 and under 100m freestyle at the Aquaknights Junior Swimming Festival. Photo / Stephen Parker
Radford said fun events like the Aquaknights Festival were crucial to keeping children involved in the sport.
"If they're not enjoying the sport and having fun, we just won't keep them. It's critical for us to make sure these kids have a fun, well-rounded experience, still with that little bit of competitiveness, because kids like to be competitive, but the fun element is critical.
"To be honest, these kids are swimming really fast. They get ribbons rather than medals and the kids love them. Swimming teaches kids so much; discipline, not giving up and they make friends for my life."
Full results from the event can be found at swimming.org.nz
