Shillong, Jul 23: When it opened six years ago, True North Leisure Centre set the benchmark for swimming facilities having the first temperature controlled indoor pool in the state.
But it is not just a place for leisure but for learning a valuable skill and over the years hundreds of people, young and old, have learnt swimming here.
Besides this, numerous youngsters have trained at the Mission Compound location and gone on to win medals at state events, including the Meghalaya Games and, most recently, the 17th State Aquatic Championships.
Its young bunch of swimmers reaped an impressive haul of 27 gold medals, plus numerous silver and bronze, as well as five Best Swimmer awards.
True North charges a fee for its members and walk-in customers (keeping the water heated costs an eye-watering sum, especially in winter) but talented youngsters and those from poorer backgrounds pay very little or nothing at all, co-founder Robinson Jyrwa said today.
“It’s a huge moment of pride for us at True North,” Shelley Diengdoh, who coached the kids, said of the state championship results. “This year the children really did well. The competition in the last couple of years was very tough and that inspired our swimmers to do better.”
Getting there required a lot of dedication, from the swimmers and even their parents. “The swimmers had to balance their studies at the same time but they also had to give at least one hour to training every day,” Diengdoh said. “Parents, too, gave full support, heart and soul. It is they who have to bring their children here and wait for them during training and they did it faithfully.”
From this event, the Meghalaya Swimming Association will select athletes to represent the state at various national events. Although she is a qualified swimming teacher (having received her certification in the United Kingdom), Diengdoh is not a coach per se and she said it would be wonderful if her charges had the benefit of a full-fledged coach when training for nationals.
Cleric Jayden Wanniang won four individual gold medals at the meet and described the competition as “very fierce”. Wanniang, who won three gold medals at the Meghalaya Games earlier this year, added, “Despite not having so much time to train because of our studies, we gave it our best.”
The Mission Compound pool is 20 metres long but in the coming months, True North will be opening a 25m indoor pool at a new facility on the other side of town near Nongrah. That length would put it on par with the outdoor Crinoline pool used for the state championships and make it a possible venue for competitive events, like future Meghalaya Games.
Competition is something the owners of True North are focused on. Although the state’s swimmers are improving, they are still some way off the times of their compatriots. In order to take part in national events Meghalaya’s swimmers largely rely on wildcards. Jyrwa said the goal is to get our own swimmers up to the level that they qualify on their own merit.
That is something that everyone at True North is hoping for and working hard towards.
(Photo contributed)
