Yas Waterworld joins with World's Largest Swimming Lesson, announces World Flowboarding Championship

Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi is inviting individuals in the United Arab Emirates to be part of the World's Largest Swimming Lesson on 18th June.

Hosted by community aquatic facilities and waterparks across 14 countries on five continents, the 2013 event aims to smash its own record of 24,873 participants last year while simultaneously spreading the message that swimming lessons save lives.

One of several Arabian Gulf facilities taking part in the event, along with the Wild Wadi Waterpark, Yas Waterworld General Manager Mike Oswald explains "as a water-park and a family attraction located in a country with a sizeable shoreline, the importance of knowing how to swim and having the ability to enjoy water-based activities is very relevant to us here in the UAE.

"This seemed like a great way to get involved in a global drive to spread the message of the life-saving value of learning to swim."

Yas Waterworld is also advancing the sport of flowboarding at its two WaveLoch FlowRider attractions, the FlowBarrel Ten Double and the FlowRider Double.

2011 flowboarding champion Clayton Barker is part of the staff team at the waterpark, offering weekly training sessions through the Yas Flow League.

With the aim of advancing flowboarding in the Arabian Gulf region, the 2013 World Flowboarding Championships are to be held at Yas Waterworld over the weekend of 25th and 26th October 2013.

In advance of the Championships, Barker is preparing a host team, with the 29-year-old South African saying he is optimistic about his students' chances at this contest.

He states "we have a couple of Emirati kids who've come along amazingly (which) gives me hope that we can build a good UAE national team for the world championships.

"If they stick at it and train hard, I'm hoping we'll do really well."

Barker has been flowboarding for the past 11 years. Originally a surfer, he took up flowboarding when a FlowRider opened within walking distance of his home in Durban.

He recalls, "at first I hated it because, although it looks similar to surfing, your technique is quite different", explaining that flowboarding techniques are closer to wakeboarding, snowboarding or skateboarding than surfing.

When Yas Waterworld hosts the World Flowboarding Championships its double FlowBarrel will enable the competitors to show off their skills on both their forehand and backhand, which gives them an opportunity to showcase a bigger repertoire of tricks to the crowd and the judges.

In addition to the host team from the UAE, competitors are expected from South Africa, Singapore, Chile, the USA, United Kingdom and Australia. In conjunction with team events their will be individual championship titles in Pro Female Flowboarding, Pro Men's Flowboarding and Pro Bodyboard divisions.

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