The Tribune

THIS year, the Swift Athletics Track and Field Club has 30 young and eager sprinters who all aspire to be future Olympians.

“Over the past four years, we have made a tremendous impact on the young athletes in our club. We’ve sent 11 students to colleges abroad and we’ve sent 10 students to private schools here in Nassau,” said coach Tynes.

Swift Athletics head coach and Olympian Andrew Tynes said he established Swift Athletics four years ago with the objective of assisting “inner city kids” to become professional athletes while helping them get scholarships to attend private schools in Nassau and eventually attend colleges abroad.

In support of the sports training programme, Consolidated Water Company Limited (CWCO) recently sponsored them with a donation to assist the youngsters in their training and on their journey to becoming professional track and field athletes and future Olympians.

“We are so grateful for this donation,” said coach Tynes. “We are now able to pay our club fees and pay for our new uniforms, which we desperately need. CWCO has been loyal to us over the years and we will ensure that their donation is put to good use. We train the athletes through three progressive stages between September and July. First we get them fit, then we work on their speed and then we work on conditioning and strengths to prepare them for track and field competition,” coach Tynes continued.

Club member Karon Dean said he improved as a sprinter so much that he qualified for the 2017 CARIFTA Track & Field Championships.

“I have been in the Swift Athletics Track and Field Club for about two years now and I am so glad I joined because I’ve seen tremendous improvement in my speed, form and strength - the best part is that I recently qualified for CARIFTA this year which is one step closer to fulfilling my dream to become an Olympian,” Dean said.

Welliya Cargill, accounts manager and administrative assistant at CWCO, said the company chose to support Swift Athletics because they believe in the vision of the programme for the young athletes.

“We understand how important it is to invest in our youth and our country’s next generation of great athletes, so we are committed to reaching out to our communities and assisting in any way we can. This is our second time donating to Swift Athletics and that’s because we see the value of coach Tynes and his team’s work with these young athletes,” Cargill said.