TT duo: Team must utilise speed

BREANNE Jordan and Tahira Beepat said the TT Under-17 girls water polo team will be banking on speed against their bigger opponents, when the 2019 edition of the Pan American Youth Water Polo Championships are held in TT.

The championships will be held at the National Aquatic Centre in Balmain, Couva, from August 14-24. The championships are a qualification tournament for the fifth FINA Youth Water Polo World Championships to be held in 2020.

The United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Bahamas, along with TT will compete in the Under-17 boys category, while US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and TT will participate in the Under-17 girls division. Both TT teams must finish in the top four of their respective categories to qualify for the 2020 World Championships. To guarantee a top four finish the TT boys must win at least three matches and the girls must win two.

Yesterday, Beepat and Jordan spoke with Newsday following a training session at the Marlins Swim Club in Westmoorings, which included a psychology session.

Jordan, 16, a defender who attends Bishop Anstey High School, knows the team is counting on her to reduce the number of goals TT concede. “Yes (I am feeling some pressure), because I am one of the closest (players) to the goal, so anything could happen inside the centre.”

Jordan thinks TT’s chances of qualifying for the world championships is likely. “I think we have a great possibility of making it to worlds, so once we stay on track we will be able to make it to worlds for sure.”

Taking advantage of the team’s strength will be crucial according to Jordan. “To qualify you have to come in the top four, but I think also a lot of the other teams are bigger than us...and we are tiny, but we still have a possibility because we are faster and we are very tactical.”

Jordan says playing at home should benefit the team. “I think that should help because once you have a home audience you are able to be more self driven.”

Beepat, 15, said it has been a hectic time as the team is training almost every day. “Training has been really intense, but also fun. We have been training really hard for this tournament and I think we really have a chance to make it to worlds.” The team will be counting on Beepat to score goals in the tournament as one of the attacking players. She also thinks TT must utilise a specific strategy. “It is very important to utilise speed because we are smaller and weaker than the other teams. We will need to use our speed to reach up the pool faster to be able to score goals.”

The Holy Name Convent student said the team still has work to do before the tournament begins next week. “Between now and next week we need to work on our counter attacks and working on getting up the pool faster. We are already fast, but we need to work on our positioning and we also need to work on our defence and focusing on where the ball is. If we focus on all of that, because coach Jeff (Passwater) has been working with us constantly on these things, we should be prepared.”