AS team Saint Lucia continues its final preparation to participate at the 31st Carifta Swimming Championship in Martinique, President of the St.Lucia Amateur Swimming Association Carol Mangal says this year will be an active one for her association.
Mangal spoke to The VOICE in an exclusive interview during the Carifta Trials held at the Rodney Height Aquatic Centre and unveiled SLASA’s plans for 2016.
VOICE: With the CARIFTA Team selection out of the way, what next for SLASA?
Mangal: One of the things we have been trying to do for years was to establish a high performance team, where we will have our best – the cream of the crop-train extra hours. We are going to commence that developmental aspect from Friday 1 April. We are working alongside the coaches and we have chosen 13 swimmers. They actually don’t know they have been chosen because we still have to write to the parents, but we have criteria in place. The selectees have to come to train on mornings before they head to school because to get to the next level it will not just take the afternoon swimming. SLASA’s aim is to prepare the children for regional and international events and that includes the Olympics.
After the CARIFTA Swimming Championship which takes place from March 22 to 26, the next big meet internationally for us is the Caribbean Island Swimming Championship (CISC) which takes place in June in the Bahamas. The 2015 Senior “Male athlete of the year” Jordan Augier, Jean Luke – Zaffar, residing in France and Runako Daniel are coming down to try to qualify for Rio. Jordan is off his Rio time by.003 seconds and SLASA is hoping he makes it before or by then. Runako is a little behind, but I understand he is going to take part in a meet next weekend and we are hoping he is able to make his times then.
VOICE: SLASA last Olympic swimmer?
Mangal: The last swimmer we had at the Olympics was Danielle Beaubrun in London 2012 and in the case of Beaubrun she qualified; she didn’t go on a universality place. That is what we are hoping for the others that they actually qualify.
VOICE: What next after the CARIFTA trials?
Mangal: After CISC, we have Goodwill. Goodwill will be the biggest meet ever hosted at the national level. Goodwill comprises five countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Guyana, Barbados and host Saint Lucia. As the host you get to invite one country – so we have invited The Bahamas. Each team comprises a maximum of 40 swimmers and the delegation is actually 48 with the officials. A lot of parents will be coming as well. Swimmers who take part in the CARIFTA Championship cannot take part in Goodwill. It is actually a developmental meet. So it is an opportunity for the other swimmers, who have not qualified in CARIFTA who are at the CARIFTA age, to take part in Goodwill. That meet is scheduled for August 18 to 21 at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre.
VOICE: You’re talking about five countries and well over 240 swimmers, coaches and supporters, where are you going to put such a crowd?
Mangal: Honestly, the facility will not be able to accommodate them comfortably, but we have no choice. And the reason we have Goodwill this year is because we were supposed to get the Commonwealth Games. Goodwill was actually supposed to take place in Guyana for 2016 and here in 2017. When we knew we were getting the Commonwealth Games for 2017, we asked Guyana to switch. So that Goodwill would have given us the chance to prepare for Commonwealth Youth Games. Now that the government has changed their minds on CYG, we couldn’t go back and say we didn’t want to host Goodwill – it wouldn’t look good on us. So we have no choice, but to host it.
VOICE: With at least five months to go have you started your preparations for Goodwill?
Mangal: We have set up our Goodwill committees. The experienced Diane Worrell is our Meet director. We have actually approached the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports since last year to talk about Goodwill, because we cannot fund it on our own. On Saturday, I spoke to the Minister and he said he is going out of the island so we will have further discussion on it week after next. We have had at least three meetings with the Director of Sports Jim Xavier since there was no Permanent Secretary at the time; so they are looking at ways they can assist us with the funding because that is where we really need the help.
VOICE: Any idea as to how much it will cost SLASA to host the Goodwill Championship?
Mangal: To host it will cost SLASA well over EC$100,000.00 for sure. A lot of the things, we may not have the final details because we have never hosted it before. But what our committees will be doing – for instance, the committee that is responsible for transportation is already sourcing pricing from the different bus companies, because the likes of Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana would come through Vieux Fort which means their transportation would be more expensive.
The way Goodwill works, each swimmer is to pay US$55.00 per day. That is supposed to cover everything from the time they land here to the time they leave; they are our responsibility. So the accommodations, breakfast, lunch, dinner, transportation, the Gala Awards that goes with it – everything has to come out of that US$55.00 per day so for a swimmer. As you can see there will be a big shortfall that we will need to cover. And the teams only pay you when they arrive. For the Goodwill you don’t pay in advance. So when they arrive they will pay us, but we need to pay the hotel in advance. Bay Gardens has generously agreed to accommodate us at the village and we need to start paying them. They have made the arrangements to make their rooms available for us.
VOICE: You have Goodwill out of the way, what next on your calendar?
Mangal: Well, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be hosting the OECS championship this year. The money I need to get for Goodwill, for CISC, and for OECS is really a lot. The good thing is that some corporate sponsors have agreed to help us like LIME and West Indies Shipping. But we are hoping more will come on board.
VOICE: Let’s talk about SLASA. When is election due?
Mangal: SLASA election will be late April, the latest May.
VOICE: Are you seeking re-election?
Mangal: That I do not know at this time. There may be a new executive, but regardless of what happens, I want to leave a plan for them to follow.
VOICE: Any disappointment during your tenure in office?
Mangal: One of the things I felt that was not done in my tenure, that was because of the setup of our executive. I realize we didn’t have somebody for fundraising, so fundraising basically fell squarely on the President and Treasurer, and that really isn’t their duties per se. So in the new constitution I have asked them to draft I have put a fundraising officer instead of a floor representative. I am hoping the membership will agree to it.
The other thing is an Aquatics Sports Officer; Swimming is not the only aquatics sports. From May 23 to the 27 we will be having a coach’s clinic to introduce water polo. The facilitator will be from Hungary, so he is coming down to teach. So we want to partner with the Physical Education Teachers Association and all those people will get the necessary training as Saint Lucia gets ready for water polo which will take us to the next level.
Another thing that we are working on is Open Water. We are actually meeting with the Ministry of Youth Development and Sports in the coming days to discuss open water. And we don’t want it as Open Water for just swimming’s sake, but as a survival skill. Especially with the spate of drownings that we have had, because not all the communities may have a pool, but all the communities do have beaches. So we want to go into the various communities to ensure that Open Water not only produces athletes, but it ensures the survival of our nation. So that’s one of the things we will be doing in the very near future.
