Swim champ Anpherne Bernard: I want to win for TT

Anpherne Bernard is only 12 but holds two national swimming records.

He set the national record for the 100m breaststroke (boys 9-10 category) with a time of 1:21.03 at a short course swim meet in November 2018.

In July 2019, he swam an even better time in the same category, setting a new record of 1:20.96 at the Amateur Swimming Association of TT (ASATT) age group short course championship.

That year he also set the national record for the 50m breaststroke (boys 9-10 category) with a time of 37.70 at the Torpedoes Swim Team TT long course invitation swim meet.

Anpherne clearly loves swimming and is good at it.

“It feels great holding records. My friends are very supportive of me and feel happy that I hold records.”

He has been a member of Tidal Wave Aquatics TT at the Centre of Excellence, Tunapuna since he was five years old.

His swimming talent caught a few eyes, when he was chosen to represent TT at the 2017 Goodwill Games in Guyana. He didn’t win any individual medals at that competition but he enjoyed the experience.

“It had a lot of swimmers that I never raced against. It was my first time racing foreign swimmers. To be honest, I was a bit scared to race against them. But it was a good experience for me since it was my first time (competing at the games).”

Anpherne did win medals as part of the relay team, though. They won gold in the 200m medley relay and bronze in the 200m freestyle relay.

While disappointed in his individual performance, he was determined to do better the next time around.

And he did just that.

At the 2019 Goodwill Games, in Suriname, Anpherne swam away with seven medals: five gold, one silver and one bronze in both individual races and relays.

“It (the 2019 games) was a better experience. I was more experienced on what to do because it was my second time going to Goodwill.

“I was more prepared and faster than I was before.”

But success at the games did not come easy; training required sacrifice.

Anpherne started training at 4.30 on mornings at the community swimming pool in Sangre Grande, sometimes until 6 am. He then went to school at Guaico Presbyterian. On most days, he also trained after school.

But his sacrifices paid off in both sport and academics. He’s now a form one student at Trinity College East after writing the SEA exam this year.

What is he looking forward to at the school?

“I’m looking forward to making new friends and learning new things. I also look forward to doing some extra activities with the school like archery.”

His parents, Camille and Junior Bernard kept him motivated, with his mother supervising schoolwork and his dad managing his training.

Anpherne has participated in at least 20 swim meets per year since he started swimming. At most swim meets he represents Tidal Wave. In 2018 and 2019, the club awarded him top swimmer in his age group (boys 9-10).

Anpherne also represented Guaico Presbyterian at national schools swim meets. On October 6, he was presented with a special award for sports during the school’s online graduation.

In February, before the borders closed because of the covid19 pandemic, he travelled to Peru to participate in the 2020 UANA Swimming Cup. While he did not perform as well as he wanted, he enjoyed the experience of competing against swimmers from countries like Brazil, Argentina, and the US.

The games were hosted at the Videna Aquatic Complex in Lima, Peru. Anpherne was in awe of the swimming facilities.

“It was a (swimming) facility like I had never seen before. It felt like I was in the Olympics.”

He also toured some places in Peru which included witnessing the ceremonial changing of the guards at the government plaza in Lima.

With his experiences thus far, Anpherne knows anything is possible with hard work. He wants to be an engineer and to represent TT at the Olympics.

But, for now, he is enjoying life at a slower pace due to covid19. He mostly plays PS4 (Play Station) games like Fortnite and Call of Duty with his extra time indoors.

However, training and learning hasn’t stopped. Anpherne now trains at the pool of a family friend since public pools were closed due to covid19.

To maintain his physical health, he has been enrolled in a fitness, nutrition, and wellness programme with the Centre of Excellence.

He also began preparing for his new school: with an interest in computer programming, he started learning coding on his own.