The Castellani Swimming Pool which was closed last week Friday after the pump broke down as a result of frequent blackouts will be in operation from today.
When Stabroek Sport visited the pool yesterday, attendant Paula Lewis confirmed that the pool will be up and running from today.
The water in the pool was still green but Lewis said that they were working to have the pool cleaned so that it could be fully operational from this morning.
Lewis confirmed that the pool had been closed since last Friday because the pump could not function owing to the blackouts. Lewis stated that an electrician had been called in to address the problem, and as long as there are no more blackouts the pool is expected to be in normal operation from today.
Asked if there was a back-up system available at the pool, Lewis noted that there was a generator but it is not functional at present.
The pool was being used by national swimmers Britany van Lange and Ronaldo Rodrigues, who are preparing to represent Guyana at the International Swimming Federation (FINA) Short Course World Championships, which begins next Wednesday in Dubai.
The pool was also being utilized by other national swimmers, including Olympian Niall Roberts, who are preparing to participate in the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago (ASATT) Invitational that begins next Thursday.
These swimmers stated that they are very upset over the closure of the pool as they had no other alternative since the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s 50m Olympic-sized pool is still to be commissioned, and its Colgrain Swimming Pool is still out of order.
Roberts, Jaime Jabar and Kevon DeMoura, who are also expected to participate in the Trinidad Invitational, were forced to pay to use the pool at the Princess Hotel earlier this week.
“We were in the tapering phase, this triggers the fast twitch muscle fibres so it’s really important that you go through this. You’re supposed to begin this about a month or a few weeks before the competition, and now this is going to affect us,” Jabar said.
“It’s really stressful because other countries can rely on other pools we don’t have anywhere else to go. We had to pay to go to Buddy’s [Princess Hotel] to use the pool and train. And the pool isn’t even what we’re supposed to use, it’s really hard training there but we had no other choice.”
And while the swimmers are happy to grasp some amount of training before they are scheduled to leave Guyana, swimming coach Christopher McAdam stated that the damage has already been done.
“Yes, it will affect them because some amount of endurance will be lost. Their reaction times of their starts will be different for them, it would be slower. They missed out on some of their vital training,” McAdam said.
McAdam, who is the coach for DeMoura and Jabar, related that the athletes were in their tapering phase which was very fundamental to their training for the competitions.
“Basically tapering is what we call fine tuning, without proper tapering persons would make minor mistakes that could cost them the race. This is when the swimmers work on their starts and finishing properly. It’s very vital.”
Rodrigues said that he hopes that this lapse does not affect his performance, but confessed that it will be difficult to pick up from where he left off.
“It was a real downfall to us, but hopefully we can train from tomorrow and try to do our best. But it’s going to be difficult, we’re going to feel it when we start back because swimming is a sport that you have to be active all of the time. It’s going to really mess up our strokes.”
Rodrigues and van Lange will have until Saturday to catch up with their training as they are scheduled to leave Guyana in the early hours of Sunday morning, while those traveling to Trinidad are expected to leave on Tuesday.
