President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) Philip Walcott has said that 2010 was not one of the better years for swimming in Guyana.
Walcott, whose presidency ends at yearend, said that their activities were limited largely by the amount of pool time allotted to the association.
This, he said, was compounded by the fact that the association’s vice-president (technical) Nicholas Fraser had resigned earlier in the year.
Walcott also noted that it was regrettable that the association was unable to have its inter-club meet.
“No this has not been one of our better years, we weren’t able largely to bring off the inter-club meet, we were affected by pool time. The biggest thing is that we weren’t as active as in the previous years because of pool time,” Walcott said.
“As you know the Colgrain Pool has been down and the pool at Liliendaal it has just been shifting deadlines. Originally we thought it would be opened in September for the GTU [Guyana Teachers Union] Schools Championships.”
Walcott lamented that the closure of the Colgrain Pool played a major part in stifling the operations of the four clubs that utilize the pool.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s Colgrain Swimming Pool has been closed since June this year after its filter tank developed a hole.
A new fibre glass filter tank was scheduled to be imported to replace the tank but to date the pool remains closed.
Meanwhile, the $455 million Olympic-sized swimming pool that was originally scheduled for completion since 2008 yearend has no commissioning date in sight.Walcott referred to the Castellani Pool, controlled by the Office of the President, where only national swimmers are allowed to utilize the facility during limited hours.
On that note, Walcott emphasized that it will be the responsibility of the new committee to ensure that there is a satisfactory agreement between GASA and MCYS regarding the usage time of the Olympic-sized pool when it is opened.
The new GASA executive body, which begins operations from January 1, 2011, will be headed by media consultant Alex Graham. The new body will have their work cut out for them during their two-year span which will end on December 12, 2012.
For the year GASA has had four swim meets and was able to send its largest ever contingent of swimmers to the Goodwill Games in Suriname. GASA also assisted with the staging of the swimming segment of the Inter-Guiana Games and the National Schools Championships.
However, Walcott pointed out that these were all individual meets and stressed the need for inter-club meets.
However, on the brighter side of things, Walcott said the current body was able to put in place certain fundamentals to guide the association towards the development of the sport.
Referring to the drafting of the association’s bylaws, and the completion of their five-year plan, Walcott said that he was happy that the body was able to leave these with the new executive body.
The by-laws, Walcott related, are in the final stage while the strategic five-year plan has been completed in theory and will be left for the new committee to implement.
Walcott also pointed out that despite all odds, the performances of the swimmers have been gradually improving according to their timings.
“The by-laws are in the final part of the process, we’re about 90% complete, some of the clubs have a problem with some of the parts of it but we are working on that. We have completed our strategic plan, I have endorsed that and what the new executive has to do now is to set up a committee to deal with the implementation,” Walcott said.
The five-year plan, which the association had unveiled earlier this year, points to goals that the association should strive to achieve. Walcott said he hopes that next year will be a better one under the governance of the new GASA executive.
