Tornadoes coach eyes more international competition
Published:Wednesday | May 10, 2023 | 1:14 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
TORNADOES SWIM Club head coach Wendy Lee is hoping a large financial commitment will provide the platform for local swimmers to get back to international competition as well as unearth the next hidden gem.
Lee was speaking at yesterday’s launch of the 26th Annual Tornadoes Swim Club Invitational Swim Meet series, the first of which will take place on Friday and Saturday at the National Aquatic Centre. The second part of the series will be staged next month.
The series is being used as a qualifier for various international competitions, including the Goodwill Games which Jamaica is hosting this summer, as well as the World Junior Championships and the Pan-American Games.
Tornadoes were the beneficiaries of their largest sponsorship of the series to date with a $2.35-million injection by title sponsor, Amazing Concrete.
Lee said that with the effects of the pandemic resulting in a lack of international competition, the series is important to fill that gap.
“One of the challenges that we have been having post-COVID-19 is that we really haven’t been competing internationally and it’s showing in our performances. The motivation to compete and swim fast is very challenging when the only competition pool you are able to swim in is the National Stadium Pool. So the fact that we can take the sponsorship money and reinvest it in our national senior athletes to get an opportunity to compete overseas and be challenging again [is important],” Lee said.
new format
The first part of the series will be the Tornadoes Amazing Concrete Spidey Challenge, which according to Lee, is a new format which she hopes will incentivise all swimmers to compete in their respective disciplines and not miss out because of oversubscribed events.
“One of the challenges we have with our swim meets is that they are oversubscribed and our sessions are five and six hours long. What it is creating is that officials are saying we are not going to allow some of the heats to compete. We do not want that. There is no way that only the fast children get to swim,” Lee said.
“Everyone needs to get an opportunity because you don’t know where the next talent is going to be. If we are not creating an opportunity for our next talent to compete, then we won’t have talent.”
With the target of increasing the talent pool of swimmers, Tornadoes team captain Zachary Jackson-Blaine said that the sponsorship will help to further that goal.
“Teamwork allows us to continue to grow as a swimming community. Not only just speaking to the sponsorship, but also to the athletes, so they will continue to improve the sport of swimming in Jamaica,” Jackson Blaine said.