A Bermuda squad has departed for the Bahamas to take part in the country’s national championships

Eighteen swimmers in four age groups under the mentorship of national coach Ben Smith and assistant Shona Palmer will represent the island at the Betty-Kelly-Kenning Aquatic Centre from Thursday to Sunday.

The event has been chosen as a replacement for the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation Championship, with the Bermuda team opting to prioritise the wellbeing of their young swimmers over a trip to El Salvador in August.

Coach Smith revealed the switching of plans was not a difficult task given the excellent relations between the Bermuda Amateur Swimming Association and Bahamas Aquatics Federation.

“CCCAN is being held in El Salvador, so there were some safety concerns for an age- group team,” Smith said.

“CCCAN was moved to late August because of the busy summer schedule and we needed to find a replacement meet. We had attended Bahamas Nationals right after Covid-19 and Bermuda Swimming has a relationship with Bahamas Swimming, which made this easy.”

Smith feels that the success of the team at the Bahamas National Championships should not be measured solely by results with emphasis being placed on the growth of the young swimmers.

“We decided to lower the standard to give an opportunity for some development of the programme, which created motivation over the last few months,” Smith said.

“I will be coaching with Shona Palmer and we are looking forward to some great results,’’ said Smith.

Despite no official expectations, Smith has no doubt that his team will give their best with several members of the squad gearing up for the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago in August.

“We have several of our Carifta athletes here and many of our past medallists are on the team,” Smith said.

“This team will perform very well with Marleigh Howes, Elanna Fulton, Thomas Cechini and Flynn Watson-Brown all using this as a tune-up for the Commonwealth Youth Games.”

The Bahamas National Swimming Championships also serves as an early qualifier for the Paris 2024 Olympics as well as the Carifta Championships in April next year.