Swim coaches moving to make up for lost time
Published:Saturday | May 29, 2021 | 12:10 AMDaniel Wheeler/ Staff Reporter
National swim coaches, Rory Alvaranga and Wendy Lee, have hailed the return of local competitive swimming. According to the coaches, this has not only brought solace for the coaching staff and swimmers but after the long layoff, they can now reposition themselves for international competition in the future.
After the government gave approval to the Aquatic Association of Jamaica to stage meets again in late April, a series of time trials have been taking place since early May at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC). The approval brought an end to a 14-month competitive hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alvaranga, who is the head coach of Kaizen Swim Club, said that he was pleased to see his charges not only return but to display good performances despite the long layoff.
“It has been a relief. I do believe that we could have had competitions from last year but we are just thankful that we are racing now and with children (swimming) personal bests, children having fun, It’s just a win-win situation for both coaches and swimmers at this time,” Alvaranga told The Gleaner.
The most recent time trial was held last weekend and Lee, who is the head coach of the Tornadoes Swim Club, said the return was most rewarding not only because of the personal bests set by some of her athletes, but that it rewarded the faith the charges had in her and in the system, given the lengthy delay and uncertainty.
“I just have to congratulate them for their dedication and their blind faith in what I’m doing. Why I was so excited about our performance is that we were operating in a vacuum,” Lee said. “And coming out of that vacuum where we were alone with the pool with few swimmers, it showed to me that the system that we have in place works.”
TRIALS AID IN SWIMMERS’ CONSISTENCY
Local swimming was suspended in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also resulted in the closure of the NAC for a few months. With concerns about how the long layoff would affect the growth and future development of local swimmers, Lee said that the trials put Jamaica back on the path to consistently produce swimmers that can compete at the international level.
With local meets returning, both coaches hope that it will put them in good shape to resume international competition. The Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Swimming Championships is due to take place in late June in Puerto Rico, the new host country for the tournament after Panama pulled out because of COVID-19 concerns. Additionally, the FINA World Junior Swimming Championship will be hosted by Russia in late August.