The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) is collaborating with the sport’s world governing body FINA to ensure local swimmers are given virtual coaching resources during the current lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
President of GASA, Brian Goodridge disclosed to Stabroek Sports that local swimmers have been involved in an interactive E-learning platform operated by FINA.
“Myself and other executive members have had a number of meetings with FINA and they have provided workout sessions which we shared with our clubs for them to have our athletes log on,” said Goodridge who assumed the position in September 2019.
He added: “there’s not much we can do because it’s [swimming] a physical sport so the most we can do is have those online sessions. We’ve had two sessions so far.”
The president explained that FINA itself has been at a standstill due to the pandemic and the body has been working on putting systems in place to ensure it is run effectively when things return to a state of normalcy.
FINA, due to the uncertainty surrounding the rising challenge of containing the deadly virus, was forced to reschedule a number of their planned swim meets.
The body recently announced the postponement of the 2020 FINA World Swimming Championships for one year due to the coronavirus pandemic. The competition was scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi in December 2020.
The world’s top swimmers who were gearing up for the 2020 Summer Olympics faced more disappointment after host Japan and the International Olympic Committee pulled the plug on the 2020 Olympic Games, earlier in the year rescheduling it to 2021.
Goodridge, who previously served as vice president of the local association, said three Guyanese were gunning for spots to compete at the Japan event.
“…the Olympic was the next big sport event coming up, it’s obviously on hold for now but that was the major swimming event for 2020. We had three persons who were in line to qualify; Jamila Sanmoogan, Andrew Fowler and Leon Seaton Jr.”
Sanmoogan is the lone female among the lot and the president revealed that she would have been an automatic member of Guyana’s Olympic contingent while Fowler and Seaton had to produce a few more qualifying times to nail down their spots.
