ASAJ boss heaps praise on Carifta swimmers
Published:Saturday | April 6, 2024 | 12:10 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
President of the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ), Lance Rochester, has heaped praise on the swimmers who represented the island at the recent Carifta Aquatics Championships at the Betty-Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Centre in The Bahamas.
Jamaica finished fourth overall and pocketed 45 medals inclusive of 18 gold, 12 silver and 15 bronze.
“I’m very proud of our athletes who participated at the 2024 Carifta Aquatics Championships. I was able to witness it personally and I’m proud of how our athletes represented Jamaica, their unity and energy as they were all striving together to ensure that the performances were as good as they could have been. Their contributions to the team’s overall performance were also significant,” Rochester said.
Jamaica’s tally of 45 medals was a 15-medal increase over last year and Rochester said the ASAJ’s plan is to expose Jamaica’s aquatic athletes to as many opportunities as possible similar to that which is done in other parts of the world.
“As far as the sport is concerned, we’re looking to grow the base by exposing our children to the sport of swimming. Learn to swim first, then have competitions right across Jamaica to ensure that we provide them with the absolute best opportunities that the elite swimmers in advanced countries are receiving,” he added.
Rochester who took over leadership of the ASAJ last year suggested that the rapid improvements of some local swimmers could be down to the fact that the competitive level has increased in Jamaica as a number of foreign competitors are participating at local meets.
“Exposure is absolutely important for our athletes. Also, we’ve being getting much more foreign athletes at our local swim meets and those have included many athletes at the elite level who are striving for Olympic and World Championships qualifications and have being using our swim meets to try and achieve those marks, so that sort of exposure for our athletes in Jamaica has been beneficial,” he stated.
In order to push the growth of swimming in Jamaica Rochester has identified two key areas that he thinks need attention. He said there is a need for more technical expertise and a high performance programme and the ASAJ will be trying to add much more value to the development path of local swimmers between now and next year.