The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WITH the recent success of swimming at the regional and international level, the Bahamas will grow to expect milestone performances from the national swim programme.

CARIFTA swim team head coach Andy Knowles said it will take a concentrated effort by coaches, athletes and the Bahamas Swimming Federation to ensure that swimmers meet and exceed those lofty expectations.

As the celebrations continued for the 2014 team that claimed the Bahamas first CARIFTA swimming championship, Knowles outlined the plan for further success.

“I think it is a matter of the BSF working with the coaches, taking into account what we have done, the ingredients that went into making this a successful year and we have to find a way to continue that. My mind is already rolling over with the things we want to do and we need to implement if we want to win again next year. That competition created a lot of fast times and we need to encourage that, encourage growth. Look at it division by division, know what it takes to win a medal in that age group and put that out there as a goal for all of them,” he said.

“The 12-and-under boys were a real good example. Last year we had two boys score and we got one medal and this time every one of the six boys got an individual medal. They came such a long way in a year and I think that was because of fierce competition. We push each other every meet, the times kept getting faster so there was a lot of competition to get on the team and that just made us that much stronger. We need to keep encouraging coaches working together in interest of the Bahamas first above everything else.”

Knowles said the Bahamas’ programmes at the junior level will benefit from setting higher standards as athletes progress beyond the CARIFTA level.

“To make those bigger, faster meets, we need to keep the bar high in terms of our standards. The other countries have done that with the bar being pretty high in terms of what they have to do to make their teams, so when they make their teams they got a really good chance of making a medal and I think that’s something we have been debating a lot,” he said. “I think we need to keep that bar high, not make it any easier but make it tougher and we will see our kids raise their level over time.”

The CARIFTA triumph at the junior level coincides with other swimming highlights in recent years, most notably the performance of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace.

The two-time Olympian rose to national prominence with her historic performance at the London 2012 Olympics when she became the first Bahamian to advance to an Olympic final in the pool. She swam to an 8th place finish (24.69) in her specialty, the 50m freestyle.

“It’s so good when we have our top athletes excel. We have more kids now who are legitimately looking to make the Commonwealth team because they are eager to represent the country at a high level,” Knowles said. “There are a lot more elite meets for kids to get into compared to about 20 years ago when you just had CARIFTA, CCCAN, CISC Pan Am, Worlds, Olympics and Commonwealth, now they have meets like the Junior Worlds, Junior Olympics and Junior Pan Ams. There are a lot of high profile meets and a lot of opportunities and it encourages these kids at the CARIFTA level to see other kids who are able to go to college, make those bigger meets and be on the world stage.”