Lyn: Swimmers declined call-up for World Championships
Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica AGM postponed until next year because of technical issues
Published:Friday | December 23, 2022 | 1:05 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
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Although the 2022 Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica Annual General Meeting (AGM) was deferred to next year, president Martin Lyn has addressed outstanding matters to close the year, which included Jamaica’s absence at the December 13-18 World...
Although the 2022 Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica Annual General Meeting (AGM) was deferred to next year, president Martin Lyn has addressed outstanding matters to close the year, which included Jamaica’s absence at the December 13-18 World Swimming Championships (Short Course).
Wednesday’s meeting was postponed until early 2023 because of what Lyn described as technical issues with a hybrid format used for proceedings. According to him, in addition to those that were physically present, 31 persons attended the meeting virtually, which started an hour past its scheduled 6 p.m. Lyn said that in the interest of a smoother process, the members moved for the meeting to be postponed.
“It is very unfortunate, but the technology just wasn’t in our favour. We had 31 persons online, and we had 22 physically present, and it wasn’t moving together. As a result of that, we decided in the best interest of the federation to get all of the opinions and get everybody to have a voice, that it was best to postpone it when we can get everything right.”
With concern about Jamaica not participating in the championships this year or the World Aquatics (formerly FINA) Congress that took place in Australia, Lyn addressed the matter by saying that while they had a team ready to send, the athletes declined the call-up.
“We did have three athletes that we had selected to go and those three athletes all declined to go. So it is not a matter of we didn’t send anybody. The reality is that our sport is a time sport, and the qualification times are very high. And if we don’t have the athletes to send, it doesn’t make any sense for us to just send someone down there because it’s not going to be particularly good for the athlete, and we must represent properly,” Lyn said. “So it’s not a matter of being able to just say we didn’t send anybody. We had three people, but they decided not to go because it was during exam time as well.”
National coach Wendy Lee confirmed the assessment with the added factor of where the swimmers were in their training.
“They chose not to go because of where they are in their swim season and the plans that they have for their summer meets. Because we had so many summer meets, they didn’t think it was the right time to compete at this high level,” Lee said.
Additionally, Lyn said the high cost of travelling to Australia was a factor in the association’s decision not to take part in the congress, which saw the rebranding of FINA to World Aquatics (WA).
“World Aquatics gives us an amount of money to go, but the cost of going there was almost double the money that they gave us,” Lyn said.
Meanwhile, Lyn said that parents that had to bear expenses for the 2022 Carifta Swimming Championships last May have been refunded. ASAJ benefited from a $7 million injection by the Ministry of Sport to help ease the costs that parents were scrambling to meet. It was reported to be just over US$2,500 ($385,000) for each swimmer.
While pleased with their progress in 2022, in particular sending several teams to multiple competitions including the Commonwealth Games, Lyn said that they are looking to build on that success, including applying to WA for coaching clinics, which he said would be finalised by early year.