Ahead of the first leg of the Swimming World Cup in Shanghai, World Aquatics staged a community-focused Champions Clinic in collaboration with Official Partner Nongfu Spring.
The latest Champions Clinic successfully engaged 31 children aged between 6 and 13 from a local swimming club and the wider community in Shanghai, offering a unique opportunity to meet and learn from some of the biggest stars in Chinese swimming.
It included a broad range of participants both in age group and level, and proved a huge hit, with fun factored into the clinic at every step, helping to inspire the next generation of aquatics talent.
Olympic gold medallists Pan Zhanle and Zhang Yufei began the clinic with an energetic dance warm-up. This educated the children on the importance of movement of the body and warming up correctly in an entertaining manner. The second half was dedicated to technical instruction in the same pool in which the world’s top athletes will be competing in during the Swimming World Cup.
After the session, as parents watched from the stands, the young participants enjoyed photo opportunities with the athletes and received a commemorative certificate as an additional memento by which to remember their day.
Men’s 100m freestyle Olympic champion Pan expressed his belief the clinic will encourage local children in Shanghai to embrace swimming.
“To me, this clinic is very meaningful because all kids need someone to look up to and a goal in order to gain more confidence and motivation. When I was younger, I also had several swimming idols I looked up to and goals of being a swimming star, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to participate in a similar clinic like this,” Pan said.
“This makes the clinic more significant and meaningful … it is useful to have these kind of clinics to inspire young kids not only in China, but internationally to love this sport.”
Ten-time Olympic medallist Zhang concurred that the clinic will have a lasting impact on those who participated.
“This clinic can really help spark (swimming) interest in kids. We were all this age once - I wish when I was a professional swimmer could teach me how to swim or to train … I taught them my strength, which is underwater kicks, today. I know they are young and still learning, but maybe years from now they will remember someone taught them,” she said.
The Nongfu Champions Clinic in Shanghai was the latest in a series of successful initiatives this year, following similar programmes in Xi’an for diving and Beijing for artistic swimming.