After more than half of a century of being involved in competitive swimming, including about 40 years as a coach, Andy Knowles is throwing in the towel on that aspect of the sport.
The Bahamian swimming icon, through his Swift Swimming Club, is dropping competitive swimming locally and internationally, and is turning his attention to the Let's Swim Bahamas initiative that is expected to be the vehicle that drives the national swimming program.
There are still many aspects of Swift Swimming that will remain in operation - Swim America, Fitness, and the Masters programs just to name a few. However, their interaction with the Bahamas Aquatics Federation (BAF) will now be minimized.
"We have decided to make some changes in how we will contribute to the development of swimming as a whole in The Bahamas," said Andy and wife Nancy Knowles through an e-mail. "Over the past years, we have come to recognize that both our passions have changed directions. Over 10 years ago, while on a trip to Australia, we both caught the vision of how to give more children the opportunity to have swimming lessons. Hence, the Let's Swim Bahamas program was started, with the goal of offering free swimming lessons to the children of The Bahamas.
" Since then, we have given lessons to over 1,800 children using existing pools and in the sea. We have managed all this through the generous gifts of individuals and companies and volunteer coaches. The time has come to take the program to the next level, with the goal of making Let's Swim Bahamas the national learn to swim program for The Bahamas."
Speaking with Nancy directly, the program director of Swift Swimming, she said that it was always their dream to branch off, and offer more to the sport of swimming in The Bahamas.
"We want to leave our mark with something more than just competitive swimming," she said. "When you consider dropping the competitive program which has about 30 kids, and touching the lives of 3,000 people through the Let's Swim Bahamas initiative, it's a big difference. It will be extremely difficult to do both, when you think about the funds that would have to be raised, and it takes a lot of time. You have to go where your passion is, and I think we reached that time. Our passion is to continue with the Let's Swim Bahamas initiative and get our pilot program going."
Club Head Coach Andy Knowles reiterated those comments, stating also that the entire premise is to turn the Let's Swim Bahamas initiative into a national program.
"All we've done is re-focus our efforts on where we'll be spending our time - Swift has not folded up, it's just going in a different direction," he said. "This is a big, big thing, and our heart is really into it. Also, the government is buying into it. There are about five schools that are starting real soon, and we're real excited about that. At the end of the day, we hope to take on all the primary schools in The Bahamas, and teach all the kids how to swim. That's our long range plan."
Presently, Swift Swimming utilizes the St. Andrew's pool here in New Providence, but going forward the Let's Swim Bahamas program will continue at the University of The Bahamas (UB) pool, and eventually the South Beach Pools as well.
"The UB pool is ideal. Right now, there are five schools within a one-mile radius, so we could get that to work, and then we're dealing with about 6,000 kids. From there, we'll look at the South Beach Pools, and gather together five schools around that. The whole goal is to put all of the pools to use rather than have them sitting there doing nothing. A lot of the infrastructure is already in place - we just need to put the pools to use."
As a swimmer, mentor and coach, Knowles has travelled to over 1,000 swim meets in his career, and has represented The Bahamas as a swimmer and coach at all levels. He said that he remains open to being a national team coach again, in the future, and that the day may come when Swift Swimming returns to the competitive arena, but for now, his focus remains elsewhere.
"We'll accomplish much more for the youngsters, and the government as a whole if we make this Let's Swim Bahamas initiative work," he said.
In the e-mail, Andy and Nancy stated that Swift Swimming is their business, and despite dropping the competitive aspect after much consideration, the beat will go on.
"Over the last few months, Let's Swim Bahamas has paid to completely renovate the University of The Bahamas pool. We have a five-year contract with the university to develop a swim program through an after-school initiative," the e-mail stated. "We will also be working with the university to develop their swimming curriculum to include the Let's Swim Bahamas lessons. We know that Let's Swim Bahamas will now demand a lot of our physical and mental abilities as we undertake this challenge. We are no longer in our 30's when we could do everything, so we must consider our health and not put too much stress on ourselves, eat properly and exercise. Our decision to drop the competitive group is not just because of the hours spent coaching at the pool. We will now no longer have to be involved with the activities of the Bahamas Aquatics Federation. This means, no BAF meetings and the commitments that go along with that. Also, there will be no meets, attending or hosting. That's just a few of the many responsibilities that go along with running a competitive group."
Andy Knowles said that he will always get excited about fast swimming and keeping up to date with what is going on, but his passion in the sport has drifted elsewhere.
Quite a few Olympic swimmers have passed through the doors of Swift Swimming, more notably the two most decorated Bahamian swimmers of all-time, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Jeremy Knowles. Jeremy is the Olympian son of Andy and Nancy Knowles, and Andy and Jeremy is the only father-son combination in the history of Bahamian swimming to make the Olympics.
With numerous national titles under its belt, the Swift Swimming Club is arguably the most prolific swim club in the history of the Bahamas Aquatics Federation (BAF), formerly the Bahamas.

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