Swimming – a hobby turned mantra for two youngsters
Latisha Blair
Latisha Blair

FOR many, an afternoon dip is just as the name suggests – an afternoon dip in the pool. However, for two youngsters, Joseph Matthews and Latisha Blair it is more than that.

The two breathe swimming, (as oxymoronic as it sounds), as even down to their land training relates to improving their performances in the water.

Chronicle Sport caught up with them during one of their training regimen and learnt the driving force behind their dedication to the sport.

“I’ve been swimming for about a year and a half now.  At first, I didn’t think swimming as anything to be fun but when I started my first competition, I started to like it; swimming was a second home to me,” said Matthews.

Matthews, who is 14 years old and attends the Georgetown Education Trust College (GETC) says that he seeks improvements at every opportunity, thanks to said training.

“My training is very hard. It never gets easy. But although it’s hard, it allows me to drop time (be faster) at every competition. I’ve dropped two seconds at every competition in every event that I swim,” ke said.

Joseph Matthews

“My main goal is to make it to the world championships. The Olympics is a big thing, yes, but like in swimming, the world championship is where the best in the world go.

He was especially thankful for the help he receives from the coaches and his family and friends who have given him the impetus to continue.

“I am encouraging people at school to swim and almost my whole class has followed me here.”

Blair on the other hand, who is a 14-year-old student of North Ruimveldt Multilateral, is willing to look past those long days of training.

“It (training) has been very hard. Some mornings, the work is so hard that I want to cry, sometimes I vomit but at the end of the day, I realise that it’s good for me and it will make me better.

“Break a fifty backstroke record and go to the Olympics,” she said when quizzed about what keeps her going in the sport and what she has planned for aquatic community.

“I’d like to encourage people to take up swimming because a lot of people don’t take up swimming. They just see it as jumping in the water and splashing up and having fun. They don’t see it as something that will help you to go a far way in life.”

She noted the importance of her family and friends, who support her throughout her journey and are always being present when she needs them the most. (ssookram@guyanachronicle.com)

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