After finishing at the top of the medal table at the 2022 CARIFTA Swimming Championships, Cayman’s swimmers are looking to pick up where they left off at this year’s event in Curaçao.
A total of 53 athletes, competing in pool, artistic and open water, will be in Curaçao from 6-10 April, representing the biggest team ever assembled by the Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association.
Many of those athletes train locally with Camana Bay Aquatic Club – headed by Grant Ferguson, who has been coaching local swimmers since 2019.
For Ferguson, who swam the 100 metre breaststroke for the South African national team, this will be his first time coaching at a CARIFTA event. He told the Cayman Compass he is pleased to have been selected for a team that has the potential to dominate.
“We decided to take a strong team with us this year; we want to go for gold,” Ferguson said. “We had a real hard three weeks after nationals and a lot of race-specific work heading into CARIFTA. Now we’re two weeks out… so we start our main taper of the year.”
While the swimmers are now taking it easy on the physical side of training, Ferguson said he is helping the athletes to psychologically prepare for the big stage.
“We are really starting to put an emphasis on the mind work involved,” he said. “So, three times a week we are doing visualisation sessions in the morning. I think the trick is to get all the swimmers confident and have them believe, because they write their destiny at the end of the day.
“If we can go there with a positive mindset, [and do what we practised], and do it for Cayman, it will make a very big difference.”
He added that during this time, diets are also important, noting that “everybody is different… but we just want to make sure that they are fuelling their bodies the right way”.
Many great athletes have competed at the CARIFTA Championships, including the likes of Cayman’s world champion Jordan Crooks, who previously trained under Ferguson. He said with Cayman’s recent success in aquatics, every swimmer should be on their A-game because much more attention will be focused on them.
“CARIFTA is a big draw for a swimmer looking to go to a university in the States because they cater to high-performance swimmers… Of all the swim meets involving all the islands, CARIFTA has the biggest attendance of recruiters that look for talent.
“Now, especially, with Jordan and the mark he has made on Caribbean swimming, it’s going to open up a lot of eyes and I wouldn’t doubt if there’s double the amount of recruiters sitting at that swimming pool this year.”
The head of the largest swim club in the Cayman Islands, Ferguson, who has more than 20 years coaching experience, said that in a meet like CARIFTA, everyone must work together for the common good.
“This is a very big opportunity for me,” he said. “I think, on my side, travelling with more than one coach is very important, but it’s also important to have a very good relationship with all the other coaches. We are all working towards one goal.
“So, without a doubt, coach Darren [Mew] attending and coach Jacky [Pellerin] attending and myself – the three of us have a lot of experience and I’m sure that that experience will be useful for the team.”
That squad also carries several other athletes with major competitive experience, such as Jillian Crooks, who is Cayman’s youngest Olympian, and Harper Barrowman, a Commonwealth Games finalist.
However, there are a few others that Ferguson believes will perform to his expectations: “Lila Higgo, Sierrah Broadbelt and, then, on the boys’ side, definitely James Allison, and another one to keep your eye on this year is Lev Fahy,” he said. “I’m super excited. We have strong relays; the swimmers look good and strong.”
The swimming team will leave Cayman for Curaçao on 4 April.
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