TT’s water polo future looks bright

AFTER TT hosted a successful UANA Pan American Water Polo Youth Championships that ended last week, stakeholders believe the future of water polo in TT is bright.

TT, fielding mostly Under-16 players, competed in both the boys and girls Under-17 categories, at the National Aquatic Centre, in Couva. The boys ended sixth among the eight teams and in the girls division TT were sixth among the six teams. The TT boys were hoping for a top five finish and the girls a top four finish to qualify for the 2020 World Youth Championships. The boys missed out on a spot at Worlds after losing in the fifth place playoff.

Wim Keeman, a high ranking member of both the International Swimming Federation and UANA technical water polo committees, likes the direction that TT water polo is going.

“Indeed I’ve been following the development of water polo in the Caribbean region closely for the last 20 years, first as coach, later as referee and more recent as member of the Technical Water Polo Committee of both UANA and FINA.

“I must say that since the CCCAN Age Group Championships (Central American and Caribbean Region) in 2005 in the Dominican Republic, TT have made an impressive progression in their water polo level.”

Keeman said TT have won a number of medals in age group championships, competed in 2010 on senior level at the Central American and Caribbean Games and participated at the FINA Development Trophy in 2011 in Saudi Arabia.

TT’s goal was to regain their regional dominance in 2019 which they did with three gold and a silver at Carifta and later with a gold at CCCAN.

Keeman said the road to success is not always smooth.

Keeman said, “Of course we all know that level does not go up (or down) in a straight line. Sometimes there are issues like key players leaving the island for study abroad which causes a stop in the development or even a decrease in the level of team performance, but this an issue which has to be dealt with on all smaller islands in our region.

“For example, in 2016 at CCCAN Championships, in Guatemala, TT won two gold, a silver and a bronze medal in the four categories in which they participated, but two years later in 2018 the performance of the water polo teams from TT was disappointing in the CCCAN Age Group Championships in El Salvador as well as during the CAC Games.”

Keeman commended TT for hosting the Pan American event after the original host pulled out months before the event.

“The president of the Federation Mr Lindsay Gillette together with Mr Jerry Chin Lee accepted the challenge and organised a top-level event TT should be proud of.

“It is great to see that not only the swimming federation and their volunteers have to carry the responsibility, but that also other stake holders like government and sponsors support this event.”

Keeman is optimistic about water polo’s future in TT and praised the effort of both the boys and girls.

“You have to keep in mind that the water polo community is not very big compared to other sports on the island and then seeing now that for example the boys, in their last match, were actually competing for qualification for next year’s FINA World Championships Youth in Turkey.

“The girls also did well, it seems that these girls and boys are the new generation of TT water polo players which will need some time to get to the right level.”

With the team of local officials Keeman said water polo in TT can continue to develop. “As we know, nowadays trying to reach your goal will often not go over a nicely paved road, but usually there are some challenges along the road which one has to overcome. In case of TT water polo, I’m confident that with all the experience already present on the island among older staff, coaches and players and the support of the Government and sponsors and that under the leadership of the federation’s president Lindsay Gillette and Jerry Chin Lee, the TT water polo teams will be back soon on the highest level in the region.”

Jeff Passwater, who coached both the TT boys and girls since June, said with some more preparation and playing time the teams could excel.

“I think if there is a little more attention to detail (and) a little more ferocious practising the other nine months or ten months out of the year (the team will improve). If you could always point to something on the calender that says ‘We have got this coming here, we got this coming here’...everybody gets together more frequently, everybody is a little more used to that process (and) the two or three (local water polo) clubs are playing as one country more often and then everything becomes easier.”

Passwater credited his players’ effort. “I think the kids played great. The girls were very young. If you understand water polo the scores don’t look very good, but it is not like football where there is one or two goals a game, there is a bunch of goals scored. On the girls side, we are just a little too young and a little too small and on the boys side we just did not have the game experience. I think there is plenty of talent and a lot of kids got to be in front of a few big time college coaches that were there from the United States and certainly some TT athletes are on the radar now.”

Passwater, who was hired to coach the junior water polo teams for ten weeks until the end of the Pan American tournament, said he is willing to come back to help TT water polo. “I would be happy (to return), if they would have me of course. My experience overall was cool and (it is an) interesting place to be. It was certainly a lot of fun.” Passwater is thankful for the support from the local water polo fraternity.