CI swim team selected for regional junior games

(CIASA): The Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association (CIASA) announced today the Junior Swimming Team which will travel to Savaneta, Aruba April 20–27th to compete in the XXIX 2014 CARIFTA 50 Metre Pool and Open Water Swimming Championships. With a potential maximum team size of 32 swimmers the Cayman Islands is sending 28 swimmers this year and with veteran CARIFTA swimmers such as Cole Morgan, Iain McCallum, Eddie Weber and Lauren Hew on the team the first time competitors will have good mentors in their team mates. 

In addition to rigorous training and meeting minimum qualification times, to be considered for selection, a swimmer must meet the following eligibility criteria:

A registered member of CIASA in good standing.
Have signed the 2013/2014 CIASA Representative Swim Team Agreement.
Have signed/agreed to Representative Team Protocols
Be between the ages of 11 – 17 as of Dec 31st, 2013.

Swimmers have been training hard and with the final qualifying events behind them the task before CARIFTA Head Coach Bailey Weathers and assistant Coaches Andy Copley and Brad Hutton was not an easy one. Based on a review of qualifying times, their compliance with training and eligibility requirements, the Coaching staff made a recommendation to CIASA.  The Team Roster was agreed and ratified at the CIASA Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday 11th March.

Bailey Weathers, CIASA’s Technical Director said: "This has been already been an exciting season for so many Cayman Islands swimmers. We have seen an incredible amount of improvement and success; and we are expecting more great swims as well at CARIFTA.”

Swimmers who will be representing the Cayman Islands at the XXIV 2014 CARIFTA Swimming Championships are:

Girls 11-12: Jade Barnes (CBAC), Alison Jackson (SSC), Miquela Montana (SSC), Zororo Mutomba (CBAC), Ria Plunkett (SSC), Holly Stradling (CBAC) and Monina Thompson (SSC).
Boys 11-12: Jordan Crooks (CBAC), Liam Henry (SSC), Iain MacRae (SSC), Zachary Moore (CBAC) and Matthew Penner (CBAC)
Girls 13-14: Samantha Bailey (SSC), Stefanie Boothe (SSC), Lauren Hew (CBAC), Flynn Hope (CBAC), Sarah Jackson (SSC), Katie Klein (SSC), Kavanagh Lambert (CBAC) and Ella Plunkett (CBAC)
Boys 13-14: Rory Barrett (CBAC), Jonathan Key (SSC), Matthew Somerville (CBAC) and Eddie Weber (CBAC)
Girls 15-17: Catriona MacRae (SSC)
Boys 15-17: Simon Butler (SSC), Iain McCallum (SSC) and Cole Morgan (SSC)

As was the case last year, the CARIFTA Squad will have a Training Camp in which the athletes will come together as a team for pool training and team building. The Training Camp will be in addition to the swimmers’ regular club training and will focus on common technical aspects of their swims such as starts, turns and relay changes. 

Special thanks is extended to the Cayman Islands Government and Maples for their support every year which has helped make the position of Technical Director possible, a position which is largely credited with the recent upsurge in swimming in Cayman, including both learn-to-swim and competitive swimming.

CIASA will provide much of the funding for this trip, funds raised at the recent Dine and Splash with Olympians event. 

However, travel to Aruba is quite an expensive proposition and with such a large team travelling, the team and parents will also be pulling together to raise additional funds for the trip. Thanks to our CARIFTA sponsors so far – Cayman Airways has come on board to assist with air travel, and other CARIFTA sponsors include Dart, Global Captive Management Ltd.,

PricewaterhouseCoopers, CUC, KPMG and the Da Vinci Centre. In addition to travel expenses, there will be additional costs for accommodations, meals and gear, so please – when you see a swimmer approaching – be generous.

Michael Lockwood, CIASA Vice President; a competitive swimmer in his youth and now a masters swimmer, was delighted with the news.

“In June 2013, the CIASA Board established the CARIFTA 2014 qualification times and at that time, we anticipated a CARIFTA team of approximately 18 swimmers.  Swimmers will recall that qualification times were a little faster than the previous year.  Earlier this week, the CIASA Board was delighted to receive the Coaches recommendations this year with an astounding number of 28 qualifying swimmers. These swimmers rose the challenge and exceeded our expectations.  They and their coaches should be very proud.  This is just one example of the incredible growth and success of Cayman Swimming in the past year. 

And, typical of swimming, we expect that this growth trend will continue in the coming years under the leadership of Bailey Weathers, Cayman’s new Technical Director for swimming.”

Minister of Sport, Osbourne Bodden congratulated all of the swimmers. “Swimming requires incredible commitment, discipline and focus … and many early hours at the pool. I also want to thank their parents for the support and often referenced ‘swim taxi service’ which they provide. On behalf of the Ministry of Sports and the Cayman Islands Government we wish you all success in Aruba.”

The CARIFTA Team travelling to Aruba will include Head Coach Bailey Weathers, Assistant Coaches Andy Copley and Brad Hutton; Team Managers Sue Weathers and Jeffrey Wight and Team Physical Therapist Claire Critchley of the Da Vinci Wellness Centre.