Parents’ burden may be reduced

JELANI BECKLES

PRESIDENT of the Amateur Swimming Association of TT (ASATT) Wendell Lai Hing, is hoping the amount of money parents have to contribute toward the 2018 Carifta Swimming and Open Water Championships in Jamaica, would be reduced.

Over the past week, parents of swimmers have been complaining about the high costs of the trip to Jamaica from March 29 to April 4. Other than the high costs of the trip, parents have complained about ASATT’s rushed planning, while some parents even said their children would not compete in Jamaica if the costs were not reduced.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday, Lai Hing is optimistic TT would be represented in Jamaica.

“Yes, the team is going Carifta – the swim team both pool and open water. The swim team leaves on Good Friday (March 30) and returns on the 5th (of April) I believe. The open water team leaves on the 2nd (of April) and they return on the 6th (of April) because their swimming (schedule) is a little different.”

Lai Hing is hoping parents of the TT pool swimmers can contribute $8,900 for the trip, but the ASATT president is hopeful sponsors would still come on board to reduce the burden of the parents.

“As it is right now, the parents’ contribution has moved to about $8,900 (but it is) subject to fall because money may come in from the sponsors. We are trying to get that money (and it) will be allocated to the team and at the end of the day, the cost is going to drop. It is a budget, so the budget is nothing fixed. It is just a budget with numbers from top to bottom. We understand the situation, parents will clamour, but at the end of the day it has to do with dollars and cents.”

The cost for each athlete on the open water team is expected to be lower than the pool swimmers because that team is staying in Jamaica for a shorter period of time.

Lai Hing said because of the tough economic times the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs has been cutting down on spending.

“Unfortunately because of the climate that we are in economically, we have not gotten any sort of funding from the Ministry as we’re used to, but we have gotten some funds from the Ministry.”

Lai Hing said on Tuesday night the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs confirmed they will cover the accommodation costs for the athletes.

Jamaica Carnival will take place around the same time as the Carifta Swim meet and Lai Hing said this has affected the prices of tickets. “Unfortunately, Carifta is in Jamaica this year. It is on Easter weekend and it is Jamaica Carnival so the cost of ticket prices went through the roof because of availability.”

The ASATT president said that because airlines ask for names when booking tickets, the TT team could not book tickets early. He said this meant the TT team had to spend more.

“When ASATT selects a team, even though you book through a travel agency or you book through CAL (Caribbean Airlines) they ask for names. We will pick our team probably a month or three weeks before the Championships, that also affects the cost of the team.”

He said the TT team had some luck, as someone who wanted to go to Jamaica for Carnival offered the national swim team tickets.

“Fortunately for us...somebody who would have actually blocked tickets to go to Jamaica for Jamaica Carnival was not getting their tickets moved as they would have liked, and they at the late stage offered us 30 tickets, so our price was reduced from $7,500 per ticket to $6,100. So with the ticket price being reduced, the amount of money the parents are paying would have been reduced considerably.”

Lai Hing said the association is making efforts to reduce the costs for parents also, saying, “ASATT is actually paying for certain things out of our coffers and we are hoping that sponsors will come on board and give us something to put towards the team.”