The Congress of Philippine Aquatics, Inc. (COPA) has announced the resumption of its nationwide program and activities as its holds the 2nd leg of the Reunion Swim Challenge on August 27-28 at the newly-refurbished Teofilo Ildefonso Swimming Pool inside the historic Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila.
Batangas Rep. Eric Buhain said the swimfest is open to all Filipino swimmers, teams or clubs regardless of its affiliations as COPA embarked on its thrust as the unifying organization in the swimming community.
“Regardless of your affiliation, COPA welcomes everybody with an open arms. Isa lang naman ang interest natin at gusto nating mangyari ito’y ang yumabong ang swimming. We have to train the trainers and the development and improvement of our swimmers followed,” said the swimming icon.
“After more than two years of inaction due to pandemic, finally our young swimmers can now go back to the pool, enjoy the action once again and resumed the clubs grassroots sports development program. Importante, malaman na ng mga swimmers na balik na at puwede na ang kompetisyon,” added Buhain.
The Olympian and former SEA Games record holder formed COPA together with Chito Rivera, Darren Evangelista, Joel Esquivel and Richard Luna in 2020.
Today, the group now has more than 200 teams/clubs in 11 clusters comprising the 17 regions of the archipelago. It has close to 300 coaches with a total membership (swimmers) of 3,500.
“I remember we started the year with organizing a coaches’ technical seminar through Samahang Manlalangoy ng Pilipinas (SMP). We were about to roll out a series of seminars in different parts of the country for the benefit of our coach friends, but the pandemic hit and we had to postpone all the plans,” said Buhain.
