By Tamica Garnett
Swimming clubs are now looking beyond the erection of the 50-metre Olympic-size swimming pool at Liliendaal and their concern is over the scheduled time that will be allotted the various clubs for use of the facility when it is opened.

This concern was expressed Wednesday by swimming club coaches and officials of the Guyana Swimming Association (GASA) during a press conference held at the Colgrain Swimming Pool.

This follows the performance of a 22-member contingent of swimmers who participated at the Goodwill Games in Suriname from August 13 – 15.

Team coach Shyka Gonsalves, in her assessment of the team’s performance at the games, said that considering the conditions under which members of the team do their  training,  she believes they did fairly well.

“Personally I am very proud of the swimmers because the amount of training that they get per day compared to the other three countries that we had to come up against, they, to me, have done quite well,” she declared.

Referring to the erection of the Olympic-size 50m pool currently under construction at Liliendaal, Gonsalves pointed out that if the swimming clubs are not allotted a decent schedule to use the pool, it would defeat the purpose behind the construction of the facility.

On this issue, during a tour of the pool late last month, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, had indicated that in that regard, the ministry will have to “revisit the relationship” that it currently has with the various swimming clubs.

However, what Dr. Anthony did affirm was that the ministry will be looking to ensure that the pool would be utilized to its optimum capacity. The minister pledged that not only will the clubs be afforded extended usage of the pool but he pledged an open door  to its use by the general public.

According to the minister during the tour, it is estimated that the pool would be completed by mid-September, and from there arrangements pertaining to the pool’s schedule will have to be developed.

At present swimmers are allowed the use of the 25m Castellani Swimming Pool, which is under the control of the Office of the President, from 05:30 – 10:00 hrs, to conduct their training sessions.

However, coaches have declared that that time is not enough to groom Guyana’s budding swimmers into world champions.

Moreover, coaches say the time allotted is inconvenient to most of those who are expected to use the pool. Most of the swimmers who train have to attend school and can only afford a mere one or two hours of training in the mornings. And even this puts pressure on the youngsters as they have to get to the pool exceedingly early in order to optimize the time. And only national swimmers recognized by the GASA are allowed to use the pool during this period, and other members of swimming clubs have no other option than the use of the Colgrain Swimming Pool, which puts them at a grave disadvantage when they  eventually advance to competition in the 50m pool. However, Gonsalves pointed out that against all odds  the team’s performance was excellent since, apart from those who were able to earn medals, many of the swimmers improved on their seed timings in multiple events.

Team manager Jean La Rose disclosed that a total of 63 records had been broken by the swimmers. Additionally silver medalists Noelle Smith, swimming in the 15 – 17 category was awarded the champion of her category, having accumulated three silver medals and a bronze from her events.  Sole 9 – 10 category participant, Acalia Khan in spite of her lack of medals made sure her performance was not completely wasted when she reconfigured the seed time in three of the events that she participated in,  clocking a personal best in the 200m IM (3:21.38), 50m butterfly (40.77 seconds), and in the 100m freestyle (1:15.43).

And in the 15 – 17 category, Serrano Gonsalves and Omali Dare both stepped up their seed times in the 50m butterfly when they finished the race in 30.29 seconds and 31.58 seconds, respectively. And Kevon De Moura installed a new PB in the 50m freestyle (26.87), while  Joseph Seguina shaved seconds off his 200m IM (2:42.76) seed time to register a PB of two minutes and 42.76 seconds.

In the 100m freestyle 11 -12 category girls Onika George (1:14.68) and Jamila Sanmoogan (1:14.94) both recorded new seed times and in the boys’ division Hannibal Gaskin (1:11.86), Shaqueel Amin (1:12.12) and Omar Adams (1:14.86) all documented new seed times.

In the 13 – 14 category Athena Gaskin progressed her time to one minute and 5.85 seconds.

Sanmoogan (45.01), George (47.58) Amin (39.99), Hannibal (41.54) and Omari Dunn (40.95) also chronicled new seed times in the 50m breaststroke. They were joined by Athena and van Lange whose new records now stand at 39.77 and 40.54 respectively, and Travis Henry (38.00) in the boys’ 13 – 14 category.  Soroya Simons registered a new time in the 100m backstroke (1:17.03) along with Serrano Gonsalves (1:09.42).