World Aquatics Development Centre

On 22 September 2018, International Swimming Federation (FINA) (since 12.12.2022 the World Aquatics) and the Ministry of Sport of the Republic of Tatarstan signed the FINA Development Centre Collaboration Agreement. The Kazan Centre has joined other training facilities and centres under the FINA auspices, including the FINA Development Centre in Dakar (Senegal) and the FINA Training Centres – at the Thanyapura Health and Sports Resort in Phuket (Thailand) and in Florida (USA). The Centres operate within the framework of various World Aquatics Scholarship and Development Programmes. All of them are intended for athletes from different continents and regions of the world.

The main goal of the World Aquatics Development Centre is to create the most favourable conditions for unlocking the potential of athletes representing countries with minor national achievements in swimming, as well as providing opportunities to improve their results in preparation for the World Championships and the Olympic Games. Upgrading the qualifications of coaches and officials from Russia and neighbouring countries and conducting educational programmes for coaches and officials are another priorities of the World Aquatics Development Centre.

The World Aquatics Development Programme consists of five (5) modules:

1. World Aquatics Scholarships – for athletes only. The World Aquatics Scholarships Programme offers the opportunity to obtain financial and technical assistance partially covered by World Aquatics for an athlete proposed by their National Federation. The Scholarship helps the athlete in their preparation and qualifying for the upcoming World Championships.
2. World Aquatics Clinics – for coaches and officials. It is an educational program available to representatives of National Federations who wish to join the World Aquatics Clinics.
3. World Aquatics Schools – for officials only. The goal of the World Aquatics Schools is to conduct training and certification of officials in 6 (six) aquatic disciplines. Officials attend the World Aquatics School in the particular discipline and pass the certification exam in order to obtain World Aquatics Technical Official status. Only World Aquatics Technical Officials may be included in the list of World Aquatics Technical Officials eligible to officiate at World Aquatics Competitions.
4. World Aquatics Coaches Certification Programme. The programme is available to representatives of National Federations who wish to join the World Aquatics Coaches Certification Programme. The course is designed to provide coaches with training that gives them an opportunity to continuously develop, educate and improve their level for the advancement of the sport. The World Aquatics Coaches Certification Programme is part of the coaches’ certification course worldwide.
5. World Aquatics World Seminars. The World Aquatics World Seminar aims to be a reference event for coaches, officials, or experts in the selected discipline. The event is led by the World Aquatics Technical Committee in charge of the discipline, who will define its programme, target group and main goals.

World Aquatics scholarships programme

Currently, the main project within the framework of the Centre’s international programme has become the scholarships programme for two disciplines – Swimming and Diving.

Since the launch of the programme (from February 18, 2019 to the present), 29 swimmers from 25 countries (Albania, Angola, Andorra, Afghanistan, Ghana, Georgia, DPRK, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Latvia, Namibia, Nigeria, Maldives, Madagascar, Mauritius, Moldova, Pakistan, Rwanda, North Macedonia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Montenegro) have participated in the Swimming programme.

The Diving programme is open since May 2019. To date, 15 divers from 13 countries (Armenia, Venezuela, Georgia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, India, Iran, Lithuania, El Salvador, Chile, Ecuador) have taken part in the programme.

10 scholarship holders of the Centre (Angola, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Ghana, Egypt, Cuba, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda) took part in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo (Japan), having shown good performance (4 national records, 5 individual best records).

Upon the results of the sports competitions, the participants of the Centre set more than 100 national records.

Sports venues and training process

The training process at the World Aquatics  Development Centre is organised at the Aquatics Palace (main venue) and the Olympiets Sports Complex of the Kazan School of Olympic Reserve (additional venue) under the guidance of head coaches, appointed by the World Aquatics Development Centre . The World Aquatics  Development Centre works closely with the World Aquatics, as well as the Russian Swimming Federation and Russian Diving Federation. The federations’ experts assist with developing individual training plans for each athlete, taking into account their level of training, abilities and personal sports plan for the year. A wide range of experts work at the Centre, helping with the productiveness, efficiency, and growth of each participant of the programme.

Training week consists of 6 training days. At the request of the scholarship holder, an additional opportunity to use the pool for free swimming on Sunday may be provided. In addition to training, athletes learn a new culture, visit local attractions, as well as sports and other events in Kazan.

As part of measures to upgrade the material and technical resources of the Aquatics Palace, in 2019 it was equipped with highly specialized diving equipment and gear that meet all international standards and FINA requirements. Thanks to World Aquatics Partner, the Official Supplier Duraflex (USA) all springboards purchased for the 27^th  Summer Universiade 2013 were replaced, and 1m and 3m springboards and diving blocks were additionally installed in the Aquatics Palace pool. The second specialised hall for diving classes is equipped with sports trampolines, acrobatic tracks, and soft landing pit cubes. Acquired equipment and gear allows the World Aquatics Development Centre Scholarship holders to prepare for top-level competitions and increase their sporting prowess as efficiently as possible.

Accommodation

The scholarship programme participants live in the Universiade Village. Within walking distance from the campus there are public transport stops, metro stations, shopping centres, cafes and restaurants; within 20 minutes ride, there are the Kazan International Airport and Kazan Railway Station. Two scholarship holders are accommodated in one room. Each room is equipped with everything necessary: beds, a separate bathroom, refrigerator, WI-FI.

Catering

Athletes have their meals at P.LOVE, Love.Ashe, Cream Coffee restaurants, which serve over 100 different dishes of European, national and oriental cuisines.

Visa and migration services

It includes the preparation of documents for visa application by participants of the scholarship programme, assistance in obtaining visas, information and consultation support, paperwork necessary to extend the visa validity, as well as migration registration and deregistration.

FINA clinics and schools

Since the signing of the agreement, a number of international seminars for coaches and officials have been held:

• Seminar on new opportunities in the field of high technologies in sports (November 16, 2018). For Russian swimming coaches. Lecturer – Riku Rimpelä, Finland.
• Seminar for Russian swimming judges (beginner) (October 30 – November 3, 2019). Lecturer – Bill Hogan, Canada.
• Seminar for Artistic Swimming coaches (April 17-21, 2019). Lecturer – Jennifer Gray, UK.
• Seminar for Diving coaches (beginner) (December 1-5, 2019). Lecturer – Alexey Evangulov, UK.

In 2019, the FINA School for Artistic Swimming officials (April 19-21, 2019) with the subsequent examination was held (lecturer – Miwako Homma, Japan). The trainees were the Russian judges of the all-Russian category; 80% of them successfully completed the training.

“Academy of Champions” Programme

Together with the Volga State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Academy of Champions program is being implemented, which includes:

• functional diagnostics of the body;
• medical recommendations for planning and correcting the training process, taking into account the discovered health peculiarities and issues;
• psychological assistance;
• nutritionist recommendations;
• Russian language course.

Additionally, the opportunity to receive higher education at the Volga State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism is provided.

Training camp

For the first time in the history of the centres, a temporary training camp was held that brought together talented young athletes from the Thai Thanyapura Training Centre and the Kazan FINA Development Centre. Swimmers from the Korean national team and the South African team joined the camp as well. The training camp was dedicated to the preparation of scholarship holders from two development centres for the FINA Swimming World Cup event, which was held in Kazan on November 1-3, 2019. Together with the best swimmers from around the world, young athletes competed for the World Cup medals. FINA Training Camp gathered over 30 swimmers from 24 countries. The trainings were held twice a day at the Aquatics Palace, under the guidance of world-famous coaches Miguel Lopez Alvarado (Spain) and Graham Hill (South Africa)