By The BVI Swimming Federation

The BVI Swimming Federation closes out 2014 with several historic firsts for the territory as it debuted on the world stage with appearances at the XX Commonwealth Games and at the 12th FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships. The year also saw the territory’s top swimmers scoring personal bests and setting national records.

The BVI swimming calendar started with a bang in April when, in her second appearance at the Carifta Games held in Aruba, 13 year-old Elinah Phillip captured a gold, a silver and two bronze medals while setting national records in each of those events and a Carifta record in the 50-metre butterfly. Sister Amarah Phillip, also competing at the Games, established a 50-metre freestyle personal best of 29.18 seconds.

“They both work hard all the time so we were very pleased with these outcomes,” said Elsworth Phillip, father of the girls and President of the BVI Swimming Federation. “In the next few years we hope to be able to send more swimmers to regional and international meets and we’re pleased that Amarah and Elinah are blazing the path, so to speak.”

The sisters went on to participate in the Scottish Nationals later that month but the spotlight on them intensified when they made their inaugural appearance at the XX Commonwealth Games also in Scotland, three months later in July. Their participation marked the first time swimmers have represented the BVI at the Games.

Later in the year, five swimmers from the Makos Swim Club, Kayla Roberts, Tia Roberts, Gisselle Archibald Bowers, Chakia Smith and Jayden Marshall, attended the St. Thomas Swimming Association’s September Kick Off meet. All five earned top three places in at least two of their individual events and several competitors had personal bests.

The September Kick Off in the USVI paved the way for ten athletes, a record number, to represent the BVI at the 24th OECS Swimming Championships held in St. Lucia in early November where Elinah went on to shatter five records over the weekend en route to winning 10 of the territory’s 15-medal haul.

She swam the fastest ever 200-metre IM (2:33.20), 50-metre Butterfly (29.75) and 100-metre Freestyle (59.83) in OECS history and surpassed her previous best times in the 100-metre Butterfly, and the 50-metre Freestyle. Her performance of 1:09.24 in the Butterfly was the new OECS best by more than a second. In the 50-metre Freestyle, her time of 27.52 was almost a second better than what is now second best.

In the meantime, Amarah struck silver in the 15-17 girls 100 breaststroke at 1:16.89, then tied St. Lucia’s Thalia Bergasse in the 50 freestyle as both clocked 29.39 seconds. The 15-year old also picked up silver in the 100-metre butterfly, the 50-metre backstroke and the 50-metre butterfly silver at 31.03. Amarah took fifth in three events: The 200 freestyle in 2:25.71, the 50 breaststroke in 40.02, and the 400 backstroke at 5:17.06.

“I think it was an excellent showing by the team though not everybody medalled,” Mr. Phillip said, adding that “in addition to Amarah and Elinah, we have some younger ones coming up who did great and showed a high degree of determination. Competing at this level gave them a boost and showed them the potential in the sport.”

Nine of the swimmers went on to complete their 2014 swim year with good performances at the USVI Short Course Championships in November, winning several medals. Competing for Team BVI were Jaden Marshall, Keyon Sampson, Kdejah Sampson, Kyla Roberts, Tia Roberts, Kassia Haymer, Makiva Christopher, Makeda Christopher, Chakia Smith.

Meanwhile, the BVI was represented at the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) in early December by Amarah and Elinah who both competed in the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle and the 50-metre and 100-metre butterfly events. Organized in even years, the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) gather the world’s fastest swimmers for a five-day, top-level showdown in a 25-metre pool. This year the event was held in Doha, Qatar.

“We’re very excited about how all of our swimmers did because it says a lot about how the sport has grown in just a few years and with the progress made by all the youngsters,” said Mr. Phillip. He added that “we expect this growth to continue as the sport is put on a more secure footing and to see more youngsters recognize it as a viable option for them if they’re not really into track and field or the more traditional sports here in the BVI.”

The BVI Swimming Federation would like to thank the following individuals, businesses and organizations who supported the BV’s swimmers throughout 2014:
Prospect Reef Resort
Christina Yates
Quality Construction
National Bank of the Virgin Islands
Bitter End Yacht Club
Drake Traders
Scotia Bank
Social Security Board
Virgin Islands Base Entertainment
CCT
Shell Gas Station
One Mart
Bobby’s Market Place
Mellow Moods
Alwin “Locca” Garraway
Maria’s by the Sea Hotel
Martin Kenney & Co. Ltd.
Harney Westwood & Riegels
BVI Apparel
BVI Olympic Committee
Ministry of Education
Byron Wheatley (Travel Wize)
All who contributed and helped with our sponsorship forms

The Virgin Islands top swimmers, sisters Amarah and Elinah Phillip will compete at the 12th FINA Swimming World Championships (25m) in Doha, Qatar, which gets underway Wednesday, December 3. Both sisters will swim in the 50m and 100m Freestyle and the 50m and 100m Butterfly.

The World Championships be will take place over five (5) competition days at the Hamad Aquatic Center in Doha, with morning sessions for the heats and evening sessions for the semifinals and finals. The event features the world’s fastest swimmers competing in forty-six events (34 individual and 12 relays).

More than 1,100 athletes from 171 countries are scheduled to compete for the 138 medals up for grabs at the biennial event, which is contested in a 25m pool.

The sisters will share the championship stage with several prominent world swimmers, including César Cielo Filho, the most successful Brazilian swimmer in history.

Further World Record holders set to compete in Doha include Italy’s Federica Pellegrini (200m Butterfly), Agnel Yannick of France (400m Freestyle), South Africa’s Roland Schoeman (50m Freestyle) and Sweden’s Malin Therese Alshammar (50m Butterfly), to name but a few.

The inaugural edition took place in Palma De Mallorca (ESP) in December, 1993, with the participation of 313 swimmers from 43 countries. 15 World Records were broken at these Championships setting a strong tone for the future of the event and the high standards of this unique competition. The event has continued to grow on the world stage to record highs of over 866 swimmers and 158 participating countries in the 11th edition having taken place in Istanbul (TUR) in December, 2012.

Click on the link for start lists: http://www.omegatiming.com/Competition?id=00010E010DFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF&day=1

 

Sources: BVIPlatinum.com and wscdoha2014.com

By Terry Finisterre, SNO Sports Correspondent

It was the largest meet of its kind, with 143 swimmers from five territories. It was also one of the most keenly contested. And it was almost certainly the wettest.

The curtains came down on the 24th Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Swimming Championships at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre in Gros Islet on Sunday evening, after the rains had come down consistently during the previous two days of competition.

Home team Saint Lucia captured a third OECS title in the last four years, beating defending champions Grenada by 83 points.

“We knew that Sunday would probably be our strongest day,” said Lancelot Arnold, president of the Saint Lucia Amateur Swimming Association. “Once we came into Sunday with a lead, it was just a matter of holding it. The other teams did really well, and they pushed us, but all credit to our swimmers and their coaches.”

Saint Lucia posted 1,403 points to Grenada’s 1,320, with contenders Antigua-Barbuda on 1,244.5 holding on to the third place. St Vincent & the Grenadines were fourth with 657. British Virgin Islands (185.5) were the only country not to have fielded a full team.

The Saint Lucian men and women ended the meet with identical scores of 701.5, but their main rivals split second place.

Grenada was second in the women with 676, whilst Antigua-Barbuda was third with 585.

Antigua-Barbuda (659.5) was second in the men, with Grenada (644) third.

Saint Lucia copped 119 medals, including 46 gold, 36 silver and 37 bronze.

Antigua-Barbuda had 36 gold, but just 34 silver and 38 bronze, whereas Grenada took home 31 gold, 43 silver and 37 bronze. St Vincent & the Grenadines got 35 medals (11 gold) and BVI 15 (6 gold).

Saint Lucia also captured four of the 12 individual age group trophies on offer. Naima Hazell (58 points) won the 8 & Under Women with a lead of 20 points. D’Andre Blanchard won the 8 & Under Men by 15 points – his final tally, 63. Eden Crick got the 11-12 Women’s trophy with 90 points, a 19-point lead over her nearest challlenger, and Jordan Augier repeated as 18 & Over Men’s champion, his 97-point total and 33-point lead over his closest rival only slightly less dominant than was the case in 2013.

In addition to the 15 records broken on Friday and Saturday, a full 21 were reset on Sunday.

One of the fascinating aspects of OECS swimming is watching the young athletes grow through the age groups. For instance, Saint Lucian veteran Augier in the men’s 18 & Over class established two more meet records in the 50-metre Backstroke (26.78) and 100m Freestyle (52.35). But compatriot Hazell was just as dominant in the women’s 8 & Under, winning the 25m Breaststroke (19.96) and 25 Free (15.94) in record time. Both, naturally, won their divisions.

Two of the most competitive classes, though, were the men’s and women’s 13-14. Although Antigua-Barbuda’s Noah Mascoll-Gomes won the men’s divison in fairly straightforward fashion, just 11 points seperated the four swimmers behind him. On sunday, Mascoll-Gomes added to his OECS legacy with meet records in the 200 Individual Medley (2:16.75, taking more than four seconds off his previous record), 50 Back (29.01), 50 Butterfly (27.57) and 100 Free (54.14). Nikolas Sylvester of St Vincent & the Grenadines also set a new mark for 100 Breast (1:10.77) in that division.

Elinah Phillip of British Virgin Islands won the women’s 13-14 division and she will have another year in this age group. She set three new records on Sunday on her way to winning the category. Elinah swam the fastest ever 200 IM (2:33.20), 50 Butterfly (29.75) and 100 Free (59.83) in OECS history.

Among Elinah’s main challengers, fellow 13-year-old Shne Joachim of St Vincent & the Grenadines established a new standard for 100 Breaststroke (1:16.13).

Along with Mascoll-Gomes, Oreoluwa Cherebin of Grenada was one of the stars of this meet. She crushed the 15-17 category, setting four records on Sunday, including the 200 IM (2:33.97), 100 Breast (1:18.62), 50 Butterfly (30.42) and 100 Free (1:01.47), and she has one more year in this division.

Eden Crick set a new 11-12 women’s 50 Back mark, touching in 33.76 for gold. She was also on the Saint Lucia team that won the 11-14 200 Freestyle Relay in 1:58.43, along with Katelin Samuel, Katie Kyle and Mikaela Casimir.

The team of Mikaili Charlemagne, Natalya Guillaume, Shalini Joseph and Maya Hilaire won the 10 & Under women’s version of that relay in 2:11.48

In addition to OECS records, Saint Lucia swimmers recorded 21 National and Age Group Records. Augier set two National Records and Thalia Bergasse one. Augier also reset three 18 & Over men’s records, whilst Hazell recorded give new age group marks. Crick, Blanchard and Terrell Monplaisir joined Augier in posting three new age-group records, Jyasi Daniel established two, and there was one apiece for Bergasse and Mikali Charlemagne.

The 2015 OECS Swimming Championships are set for November 6-8 in St John’s, Antigua-Barbuda.

By: VINO

A British swimming expert and Olympic medalist is offering a swimming course through the BVI Swimming Foundation to teachers of the sport with a view to improving their skills and techniques and making them better in passing instructions to their young charges.

While the course is free, the beneficiaries are expected to pass on their knowledge through volunteering to teach the sport to school children of the Virgin Islands.

The first batch of persons began their training in Prospect Reef, Tortola, on Sunday October 12, 2014.

The course is recognised worldwide as a quality swimming teaching certificate and the Tutor and Director of the Swimming Foundation is Brian Brinkley MBE, two time Olympian, and tutor in the UK for over thirty-five years.

The courses are divided into two levels. Level One is aimed at students who are over sixteen years of age and have a swimming ability.

“This is an introductory level and students will be expected to teach in the water. It is a mixture of Theory and Practical, both need to be passed to gain certification. Normally it is taught of three weeks and does require some home study,” said Brinkley.

He said that Level Two is aimed at students over seventeen who hold the level one qualification. The level is the full award and is eight weeks of study and includes a mixture of Theory and Practical. “You will also have some home study, both have to be passed to gain certification,” Brinkley said.

He explained that while there are no examinations, the assessments made by the course tutor are internally verified by an assessor in the UK and are subject to External Assessment by the Awarding Body (ASA).

“Today is the first practical session of the BVI Swimming Foundation swimming course Level One. The Foundation’s role is to train swimming teachers on the islands and for those teachers to go out and teach children in schools,” said Brinkley. “The payback for the course is that you go and teach the primary school children how to swim.”

Brinkley said that the idea was the brainchild of Premier Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith, and he was selected out of more than 100 applicants for the job to come to the Territory and run the course.

“My role on island, at least up to Christmas, is to train people. I have got a target of numbers I’m looking to train, but we hope by February – March we would have had loads of swimming teachers trained and up to a good standard and then [have them dispatched] into the schools to train the students,” said Brinkley.
Brinkley is a two-time British Olympian competing in the 1972 games in Munich, West Germany and in the 1976 Games in Montreal, Canada, where he picked up two medals.

By: BVI Swim Federation

Five swimmers from the Makos Swim Club got their 2014-2015 season started on a high note last weekend at the St Thomas Swimming Association’s appropriately named ‘September Kick Off’ meet.

The meet was a preparation event in the lead up to the BVIs now annual participation in the OECS Swimming Championships.

Swimming for the Makos was Kayla Roberts, Tia Roberts, Gisselle Archibald Bowers, Chakia Smith and Jayden Marshall. Coach Elsworth Phillip noted that for the team it was an opportunity to race under meet conditions and shake off some of the summer rust after the break.

All 5 Makos team members came back having earned top 3 placing in at least 2 of their individual events and quite a few personal bests. Training continues with one more preparatory meet planned before the BVI team is selected for the OECS Championships in November.