Pictured above: Back (l-r) Lee Wigmore and Laura Williams,
from Coventry Sports Foundation, with Steve Parry, Total Swimming,
and Clarke Roberts, from Coventry Sports Foundation. Front ( l-r)
Coundon Court pupils Rachel Hewlitt, Lewis Nyanyo and Aksa Khan
with Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere
A Blue Peter presenter has been given some last minute swimming
pointers at a Coventry school ahead of diving into a big
challenge.
Andy Akinwolere joined pupils at Coundon Court School to film
for the children's television programme before heading out to
undertake a challenge for The Big Splash -a scheme which seeks to
encourage new people into the pool and help those who already swim
to have more fun more often.
Despite having only learnt to swim 10 weeks ago, he is set to
jet out to Indonesia and attempt to swim eight kilometres across
the deepest part of the world's ocean - Challenger Deep within the
Mariana Trench.
The presenter dropped into the Secondary School to get some tips
from Coventry Sports Foundation's swimming instructors and Olympic
medal-winning swimmer Steve Parry, from Total Swimming.
Coventry Sports Foundation has been running lessons at the
school using the British Gas Pools 4 Schools pool - a portable
teaching facility designed to accommodate a full class of children
in a specially designed teaching tank.
The pool has been at the school for seven weeks and Coventry
Sports Foundation has helped over 1,585 children learn to swim at
the site during that time - in addition to the large numbers of
swimming lessons it provides across the city every month.
Kayle Burgham, Coventry Sport's Foundation's swimming
development officer, said: "We are delighted that Andy came along
to see what we have been doing here and to get a few tips from our
expert swimming instructors.
"It is amazing to see how far he has come in such a short space
of time and hopefully he can inspire others to learn to swim.
"That is also why facilities like the British Gas Pools 4
Schools pool are so important. They give youngsters, who might not
otherwise have the opportunity, access to a facility which can help
them to learn an important life skill."