Sports

Biggest Lions Sprint Meet,Records Broken

Time Out for the littleones

If swimming better means swimming strongerand faster, Cayman's young swimmers are getting better all thetime. Hordes of youngsters turned out for the biggest Lions SprintMeet yet, 121 swimmers, including 27 from the Brac.

Stingray Swim Club presented Lion OsbourneBodden with a set of up-to-date age-group pool records, beforehe opened the meet. Only nine events later, one of those recordswas broken, the first of several.

Traditionally in June, the Lions Meet alwayshas large numbers of tiny, adorable, first-time competitors, showingthat the learn-to-swim program continues to be effective. The1st event, five and six year olds ably completing 25m of butterfly,won the hearts of the spectators, Lions and parent-officials runningthe meet. A hot morning, the large numbers meant two heats ofalmost every event taking the competition into the early afternoon.

Many of the Brac youngsters had not experienceda 25-metre pool before, started from blocks, touched electronictime pads or had a seedtime to measure their performances against.Brac parents supported in great numbers. Many Brac swimmers' performanceswere impressive, from Jolie Tatum to Anjuli Bradshaw, despitetheir facility handicaps. Their efforts could only be enhancedby a 25 m pool and employment of a full-time swim coach.

The meet ran relatively smoothly, with EnidLongsworth at the helm as Referee and Shane Foster as Starter.

Lions were pleased, if not overwhelmed,with the increased numbers of participants and the organizationfelt: ".. great and to watch the young people develop eachyear and swim better and faster is a real bonus". While poolsidecongestion is always a distraction, chaos seemed to reign beforethe 25m events of little ones (4-6 yrs).

Youngsters with little previous meet experiencein the excitement of competition sometimes forget to do all theyhave been taught. Not touching with two hands when required cannotbe ignored. The growing expertise of officiating was enhancedby FINA clinics in March, provided by Stingray Swim Club. Multitudesof Lions, acting as timers, freed up volunteers to practice theirnew-found expertise in things like 'stroke and turn judging'.New computer cable linked the timing console directly with theresults computer. Stingray Swim Club is working towards gettingall their meet results on-line.

To establish a pool 'Record Board', StingraySwim Club has researched past years of meet results by event andage, (starting at 8 & Under) set by either locals or visitors.There are some impressive names and numbers amongst them, inspiringour swimmers as they have studied them. Five of those recordsfell that morning. A sponsor is being sought for a permanent,continually up-dated record board.

Despite the heat, enthusiasm was high ina fun, meet-ending, 8x50m, co-ed relay race that ended the competition,as the lead alternated. Still a Brac-er at heart, coach DominicRoss, swam with one of the Brac teams.
The Lions are to be commended for their long-time support of swimming,sponsoring and organizing 24 and 16 years of meets for the Bracand Grand Cayman respectively, enhancing the government's 'Sportsfor All' philosophy.

The C.I.A.S.A.'s 'Swim for All' 50-metrepool proposal is desirable for every age group of Cayman, especiallychildren. And especially those whose names are still on a waitlistfor Learn-to-Swim classes, as a 50 metre pool would make way fortriple, not just double, the number of classes.

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