Tsunami keeps safe, high quality swim lessons

Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan has stopped accepting participants for its fall season swim lessons despite receiving more inquiries from interested parties.

Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura said the first session of the swim lessons they are conducting in cooperation with the American Red Cross CNMI Chapter drew 51 participants. The second one last Saturday at the south pool of the Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan was attended by 55 individuals.

Three more sessions are coming up, but registration is now closed, as Tsunami Saipan and the American Red Cross are concern of the participants’ safety.

“We stopped registration although we know more people still want to join the lessons because we want to keep the participants safe and at the same time maintain the high quality of the training sessions,” Kimura said.

To ensure the safety of participants Kimura said they follow the swimmer-to-instructor ratio strictly. One instructor is allowed to have only five swimmers.

Kimura added that instructors are encouraged to get Water Safety Instructor and Life Saver licenses from American Red Cross.

“We have eight water safety instructors and four life savers certified by the American Red Cross,” Kimura said.

The Tsunami Saipan coach added having experts and certified instructors will make it easy for participants to learn the basics of swimming.

Swimming lessons are given by Tsunami Saipan coaches and swimmers. The list include Bobby and Tami Winkfield, Stan Good, Mike Villagomez, Rezne Wong, Cooper Graf, Shin Kimura, Kai Staal, Kensuke, Kensuke and Hiro Kimura, Mina Minami, Marystar Welch, Amanda Johnson, Annie Camacho, and Karen Buettner. Assistant coaches are Kaisei Toda and Ashley Welch.

The last three sessions will be held on Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 and 11.

Participants will be given certification upon completion of the lessons.

Meanwhile, Kimura announced that the first mutual meet between Tsunami Saipan and Saipan Swim Club swimmers will be held next month.

The Tsunami Saipan mentor added he will talk with SSC coach Michael Blasberg next week to finalize the details of the meet.

The mutual meet was supposed to take place early this month, but the low water level at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi forced the suspension of the friendly competition.