Sports
CARIFTA Swim Team and Crickettake top honours in Cayman Net News' 2000 Sports Awards
Andrew Mackay receiving medals at theCARIFTA Games
The 2000 CARIFTA team
Swimmer train at the 25 metre pool atthe Lions Aquatic Pool.
Over the course of last month Cayman NetNews solicited nominations for the 2000 Sports Person of the Year.This included individual athletes, coaches and sports. After along and serious examination into the world of sports, focusinglocally, we kept coming back to the same problem. WHO!
The nominees were: Kareem Streete-Thompson and Cydonie Mothersillfrom athletics; Chris and Michael Wight from cricket; Garth Anderson,Lee Ramoon and Ariel Tatum from football; Lyneth Monteith andRochelle Webb from netball; John Gibson from rugby; Oral Poweryfrom Special Olympic; Corey Thompson from basketball, Andy Bodden,Frank Williams and John Bodden from motorsports; Sean Fraser,Andrew Mackay, Heather Roffey and Kaitlyn Elphinstone, in swimming.
No nominations were forthcoming from little league, cycling, tennis,sailing, and squash.
Coaches nominated were Theo Cuffy, National Cricket, Dave Kelsheimer,National Swim and Terry Wuschenny from Little League.
The Olympics should have really been the coup-de-grace locally;however, those athletes basically bombed. While competition shouldbe based on more than a medal count, that should be one of themeasurements looking at individual accomplishments. Cayman NetNews based its standard on performances, sportsmanship, consistencyand improvement.
To this end, we at Cayman Net News could not bestow any individualhonour. Instead we choose to give the award of best in sportsto a team and a sport - The Cayman Islands CARIFTA Swim Team,for its performance and the sport of Cricket for improvement.
The past year's swimming garnered 31 medals. Total medal countfrom 1996 to 2000 has been 96 medals: 1996 -8; 1997- 12; 1998-19; 1999- 25; and 2000 - 31. Cayman owns eight CARIFTA swimmingrecords, according to Coach Dave Kelsheimer. Without questionthis is perhaps one of the most successful teams in all of ourIslands' history.
Cricket too made signification improvements in 2000, making developmentalgains. The Cayman Islands Cricket Association fielded teams --at the highest level -- to the Red Stripe Bowl for the first timeand competed in the International Cricket Council Americas regionTournament in Canada. The Association also received the firstinspection from the ICC Development Committee on their applicationas an associated member and it opened the Jimmy Powell Pavilionwas the icing on the cake.
Dave Kelsheimer had this to say, "We are honoured to be giventhis title. I would like to stress though that we do not givetoo much focus on the medal count. We encourage athlete to focuson their lane, space, destiny, ethic and workouts. We are aboutpersonal excellence and achieving better, and better times."
However, there are nagging questions that Coach Dave only participatesin competitions in which his athletes will fare well. For instance,the noticeable lack of Cayman Swimmers in the Pan American Games'1999and the Olympics in 2000.
To this end Coach Dave stated, "Different age group programmeshave different focuses. Different people seek different thingsin competitive swimming. Different swimmers swim at differentlevels. Thus, it is important that the young swimmer find a programmecompatible with his or her goals and desires. If a swimmer aspiresto be a champion, then that swimmer should be in a top-level competitiveprogramme. But if that top-level competition is so stiff as tocontinually frustrate the swimmer, then the swimmer should finda programme better suited to his or her level."
And Theo Cuffy noted: "I am truly honoured to know that themedia has recognised our efforts. After five years of work theAssociation's plan in on schedule I believe that we will continueto grow."