Coaches elated as competitive swimming returns

It’s been a tough nine months for swimming coaches at local clubs as they were not able to have their swimmers compete due to the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they were elated that they were able to return to competitive swimming and more elated with the performance of the swimmers at the Bahamas Aquatics Federation’s (BAF) End-of-Year Time Trials at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Swim Complex last week Friday and Saturday.

The previous meet, the BAF’s Last Chance Meet, was held at the same venue back in early March. The latest meet took place under a different look over the weekend as there were no spectators, social distancing was in place, there was temperature checks on entry, and sanitization and the wearing of masks were strictly enforced as mandated by health officials, all due to COVID-19.

Head Coach for the Blue Waves Swim Club Dellan Brown said he is happy that competitive swimming is back.

“I am very happy,” Brown said. “I must say that the federation has gone above and beyond along with other clubs. The COVID Task Force has done a wonderful job in making sure that we are maintaining social distancing and that we are wearing masks. All protocols that were put in place by the COVID Task Force were followed. The clubs have been doing a good job. The parents are not too happy because they cannot come inside to watch anymore because this is a swimmers-only meet so they have to watch online on Facebook, but it is the new norm and we are making it work as a federation.”

Lyford Cay Swim Club Coach Mancer Roberts Jr. echoed the same sentiments as Brown.

“We are excited to be back here at the pool. It has been a long ride fighting the COVID battle. We happy to be here again and to showcase what we have been training these last couple of months. I am pretty pleased with the way it ran, and I think the organizers did a good job,” Roberts said.

Despite it being the first competitive meet since March, swimmers were still able to break records, achieve UANA (Union Americana de Natacion) and CARIFTA qualifying times as record personal bests. All were impressive feats for the coaches and parents, said Brown who was particularly pleased with the performance of his swimmers.

“As a whole, the club did good. We came into this meet with one goal, which was everyone must drop time in some way or form in any event. They all achieved that. We were training for a while now so we are happy to be in the first meet for the season. They were hyped in terms of performance and racing, so we got ready for this last weekend where we had a little practice meet with Mantas. Coming into this meet, they were race ready. Overall, most of the swimmers did really well, from all the clubs,” Brown stated.

One of his top performers was eight-year-old Christon Joseph, who finished at the top in all five of his events in the 8-and-under boys category. He had the fastest time in the 50 meters (m) butterfly, 50m breaststroke, 200m individual medley (IM), and the 50m and 100m freestyle events. He was able to drop times in the 50m events and was surprised that he did so. He said he is looking forward to swimming in other meets.

For Mako Aquatics Club, assistant coach and Bahamian Olympian Allan Murray said competing against the other clubs is helpful for the swimmers.

“I was proud of our team with this being the first opportunity to get into the pool and compete against high caliber swimmers. We had a little time trial the other day but it was nothing like going against other swimmers outside of your team. Our team performed really well. We had a number of best swims, persons right at their best and some slightly off. Although we were not able to train for a period, we were really pleased as to where we are with our swimmers.”

Also happy with his swimmers and their times was Alpha Aquatics Club Head Coach David Del Cueto.

“The swimmers swam good,” Del Cueto said. “They were close to their best times or had best times. It was good for the swimmers. I am happy that we can finally compete as it helps us to see how we are working and if we need to change anything from a training aspect.”

Mancer said that his club had some good results in the short distance races – a bit better than they did in the longer races. His club, with about 12 swimmers, is small and he was pleased with the results and to see how happy his swimmers were to compete again.

The coaches had to get creative during the quarantine period to keep the swimmers active and engaged. They were forced to use dry land swimming and Zoom sessions when the pools were closed, and parents also played a huge role in adjusting to the new training regimen.

There is no set date for the next swim meet, but coaches and swimmers are excited and are making the most out of preparation for competition as the pools at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Aquatics Center and other pools are open during this time. One of the big meets on the agenda for the BAF is the CARIFTA Swimming Championships as The Bahamas looks to send its best junior swimmers to Wildey, Barbados, for that meet from April 3-6, 2021. The Bahamas will be vying for its fourth straight CARIFTA swimming title and fifth of the last six.

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