Though the available infrastructure for swimming is yet to be fully utilised, the interest among children for swimming has been steadily picking up in Ramanathapuram.
The swimming pool, which was named after B.S. Abdul Rahman, a noted philanthropist, was constructed about 7 years ago with the public-private contribution. Though it got poor response in the initial stages due to various factors, the number of visitors to the pool has been rising slowly.
The pool, which is generally getting good response during summer holidays and weekly holidays, is also being utilised in week days. A set of students visits the pool in the evening after attending school.
An employee of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu said the response had been really good and most of the trainees were youngsters. Swimming was the best way to keep fit. The awareness of the importance of swimming had improved among the parents and students.
“We regularly send our children for swimming as we feel that it gives confidence and keep them fit. Moreover, it (pool) is a gift for the people living in backward areas such as Ramanathapuram,” says Priya Sivakukmar of Sethupathy Nagar. However, many felt that though the pool was maintained relatively better, more efforts had to be put in to maintain in an excellent manner. Similarly, they express dissatisfaction over the vacancy of swimming trainer post for quite sometime.
The users said that if permanent coach was appointed, it would get excellent response from the people.
