Coaches interested in athlete development plans ahead of ASAJ AGM
Published:Wednesday | December 21, 2022 | 1:33 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
NATIONAL COACHES Wendy Lee and Gillian Millwod said they hope the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) executive will let them in on their plans to facilitate the support of young swimmers about to transition to the senior level, as well as assistance for coaching when the association assembles for their annual general meeting (AGM) today.
The AGM will take place at 6:00 p.m. at the National Aquatic Centre with the Agenda including reports from the president, Martin Lyn, from competitive and artistic swimming, as well as water polo.
Lee said that while the year 2022 represented a strong year for their junior core, including a 64-medal haul at the Carfita Swimming Championships in Barbados in April, she wants a clear plan from the executive on how they will help support those who will be making the jump to the senior level with the Paris Olympics on the horizon.
“I would like to know what are the plans for 2023 and what they have in place for the development of the athletes. What are they doing proactively? We had a very successful season this year. Our juniors had a very successful season getting the highest medal count ever at Carifta and making the semifinals at the World Juniors,” Lee told The Gleaner.
“Our juniors really have done well in 2022 and they are now preparing to become senior athletes. So what do they have in place to make sure that they can support these atheltes?”
Athletes that are on the verge of making that transition include Zaneta Alvaranga, Sabrina Lyn, Nathainel Thomas and Kyle Sinclair all of whom, according to Lee, will not be eligible for junior competition come next Janaury.
“These are athletes who have represented Jamacia very well at the age group level and have multiple records and multiple Caribbean medals, and they now need to compete at the senior level. They have a year and a half to compete at the Olympics, what does the ASAJ have in place for that?”
According to Millwood, coaches are finding it difficult to obtain funding to upgrade their certification and she wants to know what the association can commit to by way of support for the improvement of standards.
“Even the education of students is left to the clubs to educate athletes about things like nutrition and number of sessions. It is also left to the club to educate parents. And it is up to the clubs to spend money on their coaches to renew their certification and upgrade themselves. So if they enter the clubs at level one, unless it is free and held in Jamaica, there is no support for a coach to go to do the level-three coaching course,” Millwood said.
“The coach will have to source it for their own. So what is the commitment apart from having a once-every two-year course, what is the commitment to that? That is quite a big deal.”
Lyn said that the meeting will have an overview of the past year, which according to him has been strong. Lyn spoke specifically to the number of teams that have been sent to regional and international competitions this year. The president says the ASAJ was also looking at coaching clinics, which he said they have applied to World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for.
“We have applied to grant us some regional clinics but we won’t know until next year. We can’t say what will happen but what we can say, we have put things in motion,” Lyn said.