National Aquatic Centre a winter shelter for athletes

A swimmer from CAMO Natation in Canada makes a leisurely lap at the National Aquatic Centre yesterday.
A swimmer from CAMO Natation in Canada makes a leisurely lap at the National Aquatic Centre yesterday.

NICKOLAI MADRAY

Trinidad and Tobago are currently hosting over 300 aqua-athletes and coaches from the United States and Canada as the foreigners make the National Aquatic Centre, in Couva, home for their winter training camp for the next couple of months. Following last year’s scouting visit to the facility, Club CAMO Natation from Canada returned to enjoy the comfort of the facility in the tropical region, rather than train in the cold conditions further north.

From now until March, the Couva facility welcomes the varying university and national athletes, for their swimming and diving training sessions. There are seven teams utilising the facility – Columbia University Swim & Dive (USA), CAMO Natation (Canada), Pointe Claire (Canada), Sherbrook University (Canada), William Patterson University Swim & Dive (USA), Duke University Dive (USA), and the Canadian National Paralympic Swim Team. The media was invited to witness these teams train yesterday and Minister of Sport Darryl Smith was present to greet the visiting coaches and athletes.

Speaking at the training session, Smith emphasised the importance of having regional and foreign teams getting a taste of the facility and what it has to offer for their development. He said it is also crucial to entertain the guests in order to positively place the country on the world map.

“I am really happy to see these international athletes in the pools this evening, since it has been part of our mandate and policy to push sport tourism in Trinidad and Tobago. Also having teams returning to the facility with a bigger contingent shows that we are being consistent and were able to attract teams and fully utilise these spectacular facilities,” he said.

In an effort to aggressively market the facility to the aquatics community across the Americas, the Business Development Unit (BDU) of the Sports Company of Trinidad & Tobago (SporTT) spearheaded the drive to attract teams and promote TT as an ideal destination for training, particularly in the winter months.

Giving an insight to the idea was, Senior Manager of the BDC in SporTT, Kairon Serrette, as he explained, “When people go back to their homes in different countries and they detail their experiences first-hand, be it pictures or word of mouth, this will spark an interest and others will follow.”

He continued, “Giving the teams an option to train under our conditions, during this time of year, benefits all parties and only positive outcomes can spring from this decision.”

Divers from Columbia University Swim and Dive team train at the National Aquatic Centre, Couva, yesterday.

The President of the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago, Wendell Lai Hing, also welcomed the internationals and the idea of promoting the facility for foreign teams.

He said maximising the possibilities of foreigners training here by sharing knowledge is also a plus.

“One of the advantages of inviting these professionals, especially in diving, is understanding the different programmes being implemented in the way they approach their training and coaching strategies... we can learn from them,” he said.

Lai Hing added, “Seeing that we do not have a proper diving programme here in Trinidad and Tobago, a plus for us is that one of the universities offered a small clinic to some of our local athletes and coaches, to get a sense of what it takes to get into the sport professionally. Also, having these professionals visiting a facility such as this, they would be able to make constructive recommendations for its improvement.”

Teams would be using the pools from as early as 6 am - 9 am for the morning sessions and 5 pm - 8 pm during the evening sessions. Time schedules for the diving pool were given to the teams and lanes would be separated, by the grounds-staff, to facilitate all squads and reconfigure the pools for the different training routines.

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"National Aquatic Centre a winter shelter for athletes"

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