By Neto Baptiste
Wayne Mitchell, the coach of the national swim team for this weekend’s OECS Swimming Championships in St Lucia, believes that Antigua and Barbuda possesses the necessary talent to emerge as a top contender for this year’s title.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show ahead of the team’s departure this week, Mitchell said that despite facing challenges over the past two years, the body has been able to put its strongest possible team together.
“We still are feeling the effects of Covid and things like that and financially. We had some kids here that qualified who we really needed to come on the team but they were just not able to make it, and it hampers us a lot because we’re the only team that’s not going to have a girls’ relay 10 & under. If you know anything about the totalling of points and how that affects us, it affects us tremendously because with the relays we get double points and we’re going to miss out on that, unfortunately. But we are looking strong so we’re not ruling anything out and they are going to have to swim to beat us,” he said.
The Antigua and Barbuda Swimming Federation (ABSF) recently named a 31-member team for the November 11-13 championships at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre.
Mitchell highlighted the inclusion of university-based Angelique Gittens whom he believes brings a wealth of experience to the squad.
“She is actually heading over to St Lucia from university, so she will be there when we arrive. Angelique has been swimming since she was six and she has attended each and every single one of these OECS events. She has also made it on the higher platforms as well, and now that she has obviously gone off to university she is learning how to deal with the workload of university stress and learning to swim as well. She is going to be bringing a lot of experience to the team which is what we need,” the coach said.
Mitchell also noted the high number of first timers in the squad.
“This is actually the first time we have so many new swimmers, which is great because it shows the tremendous growth we’re experiencing right now within the swimming fraternity. So, with those new [swimmers] not being on this type of level before, it is a really good platform to gain experience on a different level. A lot of these kids have only been swimming nationally in our pool and they also train in the pool, so it’s not really the same thing,” he said.
Mitchell will be assisted by Nelson Molina Fojo and Mark Mitchell, while Daniela Casmiro-Shaw and Laurilyn Dublin will travel as chaperones, with Edith Clashing as technical director.