MOMBASA, Kenya, Dec 11 – Teenage mercurial Maria Bianchi is among 60 swimmers undergoing holiday camp training at the Mombasa Baptist High School organized by the Kenya Academy of Sports (KAS).
The swimmers are under the tutelage of veteran swimming coach Fakhry Mansoor, and have been undergoing three sessions per day for the two-week training camp that has brought together swimmers from across the vast Coast region.
Experienced Bianchi, who swims for Blue Ocean Swimming Club in Mombasa, said holding the camps is the way to go since it will give opportunity to young swimmers a chance to showcase their skills that will put them in a prime position for national team selection.
“It’s a good experience to interact and get to learn from upcoming young swimmers from all over the Coast region. We enjoyed today’s training where the best part was the relay,” 18-year-old Bianchi, who is just from representing Kenya in Burundi at the CANA Zone III competition where she won a medal, told Capital Sport.
The 2019 Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) outstanding girl of the year, however challenged KAS to support more swimmers especially those who come from underprivileged background.
“The camp is going on well so far, I hope the government can be doing more of this to allow swimmers have a chance to compete for our country because we have very good swimmers,” Bianchi, who started competitive swimming at the age of six underscored.
Bianchi’s swimming prowess has seen her earn a scholarship in a University in Italy where she expected to join in 2025.
“Swimming is an expensive sport, so it’s good that the government is supporting us to showcase out talent. I plead the government to support swimmers who have the ability to swim for consistency,” Bianchi who was at the open water camp in Zanzibar, where she had the opportunity to train with swimmers from across Africa, added.
-Top Coach Fakhry Mansoor –
National team coach Fakhry Mansoor, is upbeat that if the camps will be held consistently and follow ups of the talent selected, Kenya will have more than two swimmers at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
“It’s very important to have data base of all the swimmers that are in camp and have follow ups to know if they are still training, and how they are progressing, so there should be communication from KAS because these swimmers come from different clubs and schools, if we can have monthly reports, it will help us monitor them,” Mansoor underpinned.
He added, “The future of swimming in Kenya is very bright and having such camps that bring young swimmers together is a boost, but there is a lot of work to be done in terms of coaching the swimmers and having adequate facilities, if we do that, there’s a possibility we will have more than two swimmers in the next Olympics,” Mansoor, who was the head coach at the past two Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024, said.
The swimmers are taken through various aspects of training including endurance, technique, dive turns, and according to coach Mansoor the response is positive.
He however challenged KAS and the federation to explore technology in sports including the use of sports science if Kenya was to stand a chance to win a medal at major events like the Olympics.
“Th aspect of technology is very important, but at the moment, we are not yet there because we need pools that have electronic starting block, pools that have backstroke flags, pools that have modern equipment, we still have a long way to go to match the likes of USA and Australia, but we are in the right direction.”
