Swimmers from Howard University, the only all-Black collegiate swimming and diving team the United States, are in Bermuda for a training camp at the National Sports Centre’s aquatics and fitness facility up to January 6.

The bulk of the team of 47 swimmers plus nine coaches and support landed on the island on Friday. A delay in the flight carrying most of the team members saw a planned workout in Bermuda’s Olympic-size pool being scrapped.

Head coach Nicholas Askew said the team, who are making a return to Bermuda after last touring at the dawn of 2019, were looking to make of their time on the island. Bermudian Myeisha Sharrieff is also part of the team.

“We’re glad to be back, we had a great time when we were last here,’’ Askew said.

“We were treated really well, we had great training opportunities here. We also had some opportunities to go into the schools to advocate for water safety, so that’s really important to our programme and to our platform.

“We knew we wanted to come back, we just didn't know when. Year 2023 has been great for us as a programme. We’re happy to return and really looking forward to training at the National Sports Centre.

“There are several Howard alumni from Bermuda who we are looking to connect with. Our time will be mostly spent training and visiting public schools.”

With Howard preparing to defend their Northeast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving title, Askew wants the swimmers and divers to make full use of the island’s aquatic centre.

“The facility is beautiful,’’ Askew said. “Our swimmers and our divers really love swimming outdoors and in Bermuda having the sun on their backs and faces while they train.

“It’s a really well-kept facility. We don’t do much of our weight training there because the facility is much smaller. We've grown significantly as a programme, we have 47 student athletes that travelled with us — that’s a little bit much to host in the facility as it is now.

“The swimming and the diving that we are able to do there is great training for our team as we continue to compete and contend for another conference championship.

“We have a big senior meet on January 15 where we honour our seniors. We send them off in their last competition, we have another home meet and then we’re off to conference championships, which is in Geneva, Ohio, the week of Presidents' Day.

“As a team, that’s what we’re preparing for, then a week after comes nationals. That’s only for the team members that qualify and are selected. They’ll go into the national competition, which will be held in Florida.”

Three members of that team — the Thompson siblings Mark-Anthony and Luke-Kennedy, and Zaylie-Elizabeth — have a chance of representing Bahamas at the Paris Olympics.

Zaylie-Thompson, 19, a 100 metres and 200 metres freestyle swimmer, who also competes in the 200 individual medley, is thrilled by the possibility of going to the Olympics. Her biggest achievement was representing her country at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

“In Bermuda I'm looking forward to being exposed to the Olympic training centre,’’ Zaylie-Thompson said.

“I'm excited to train with my team-mates in Bermuda, which is very familiar to me. I will be excited to see what my competitors from Team Bermuda are used to training in.

“That was an exciting portion for me. Starting out in Carifta, you move up and get to know competitors from other countries. Now I’m going to see what they call home. They've seen what I call home; it’s nice to compare the two.”

Zaylie-Thompson also spoke of her chances of qualifying for the Olympics.

“Technically speaking, it’s between myself and one other girl in my country,’’ she said.

“Currently I’m ranked second. Depending on now and the cut-off time, that would be my chance of making it to the Olympics.

“I’m very excited and very hopeful that I’ll be able to have that experience. If I do qualify, that would mean the world to me, the exposure will be amazing.

“I feel that will be the beginning of my Olympic career. I’ll be really appreciative for that opportunity to be exposed to that level of competition.”

Breaststroke swimmer Mark Anthony, one of the university’s captains, sees the time in Bermuda as an opportune moment to build for spring competitions, which are crucial in his quest to qualify for the Olympics.

“Us being on a training camp here is going to be an incredible stepping stone for me to use to catapult myself into the spring season,’’ he said.

“I have a lot of work to do, I'm really hungry, I am really determined to put in the work that’s necessary to try and attain my goals. My goal is to represent my country at the Olympics one day.”

Luke-Kennedy, 22, a long-course swimmer, wants to use the training camp in Bermuda to become a lot quicker. The highest he has competed for his country was at the 2022 World Swimming Short Course Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where he broke two Bahamian national records.

“Coming to Bermuda will give us the opportunity to train during the off-season when most competitors take a break,’’ he said.

“This will allow us to train at a high level and catapult us into our upcoming season.

“I do have a chance of qualifying for the Olympics. I'm just a few seconds away, so I plan to use this training experience as an opportunity to get faster and lower my times in the future competitions.”

“It is my plan to do the best that I can to qualify to the highest level and represent the Bahamas the best way I can.”