SOME 36 swimmers, including multiple gold medallist Aleka Persaud and silver medallist Daniel Scott, have been selected by the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) to represent the country at the upcoming Goodwill Swim Meet, which will be held in Barbados from August 17 to 19.

The swimmers and the accompanying coaches and chaperone will represent the largest team to travel outside of the country to participate at the meet, where Guyana will be matching skills against seven other countries.

Aside from the core members Trinidad, Suriname, Barbados, St Lucia, The Bahamas and Grenada, this year will see Jamaica participate at the event as a guest team. Each team is allotted a maximum of 40 swimmers.

However notwithstanding Guyana’s large size, the team is not without challenges. Noticeably missing from this year’s team are several longstanding stalwarts, some of whom have aged out of the competition’s age category.

As well, multiple gold medallists and competition record-holder Leon Seaton can no longer participate at the meet by virtue of having made it to a final at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships. Because Goodwill is a developmental meet for emerging swimmers, those who perform well at official regional meets are barred from performing at Goodwill.

Another star swimmer for Guyana, Noel Raekwon, is also off this year’s Goodwill team for the same reason.

The team faces serious loss in the Girls’ 15-17 category, where there is not a single swimmer, as top swimmers Nikita Fiedtkou, Kenita Mahaica and Accalia Khan have all aged out of the category.

Also noticeably missing from the team are the George twins – Danielle and Jadyn, and Donna Carter who might have been able to fill that void.

These swimmers are said to have missed out on participation at the selection meet which was held back in April.

These losses come at a time when the country will be hard-pressed to continue on the road to improvement, after finishing third overall last year, with 60 medals.

This was after usual powerhouse Barbados ended up slipping to fifth. However, with Barbados having home pool advantage this year, it will be an added strain on the Guyana side to live up to expectations.

On the good side, the make-up will at least allow the athletes to be in the majority of the relays, a specific area where Guyana have continually fallen short, and heavily contributed to the continued low standing over the years.

Outside of the 9-10 and Girls’ 15-17 groups, all of the categories have at least four swimmers. And according to the team manager Jennel Ramsook preparations have been coming along well.

“Plans are coming along great; they’re training hard, morning and afternoon. Great expectations! We are doing some fundraisers. We received some sponsorship but we need more persons to come aboard with sponsorship,” Ramsook said.

Everyone is hopeful that more sponsors from corporate Guyana as well as the government will come on board to assist the team and make it possible for everyone to make it to the meet.

The full team is as follows

GIRLS:
8-and-under: Nia Burch-Smith, Shareefah Lewis, Zara Crane, Ariel Rodrigues, Jasmin Allen, Jessica Sookram

9-10: Kayla Hardy, Kayle Hardy

11-12: Monique Watson, Patrice Mahaica, Aleka Persaud, Althacy Hunte

13-14: Latisha Blair, Sofia Pinol, Giselle Crane, Amber DeGoeas

BOYS:
8-and-under: Macaiah Enoe, Ricardo Spencer, Dean Spencer, Karsten DeJonge

9-10: Jeremy Sookram, Jeron Sookram, Hashim Mohammed

11-12: Paul Mahaica, Micah Chichester, Vladimir Woodroffe, Ethan Gonsalves, Jaleel Anderson

13-14: Sekhel Tzedeq, Sion Jeffers, Vidjas Mohammed, Joseph Matthews

15-17: Daniel Scott, Fitzroy Thom, Andrew Jordon, Antonio Rodrigues