BASA planning for Carifta

By Anmar Goodridge-Boyce anmargoodridge-boyce @nationnews.com

The Barbados Aquatic Sports Association (BASA) is making plans to host the CARIFTA Aquatic Championships next year once permission is granted by health authorities.

BASA president Tony Selby said competitive swimming at the Barbados Aquatic Centre remains out of bounds but the association is awaiting official word from the COVID-19 task force to host several meets, including the region’s biggest junior aquatic competition.

“April may seem a long way from here but it is not, so we are working to get things in place. There are certain territories that are keen to come and are low risk, but obviously, countries would need notice in advance to determine what they will do and to put plans in place to come and attend the event,” Selby told Sun Sport during a telephone interview.

“The sooner we get the agreement from the COVID-19 task force and Government we will be able to give people enough time to make decisions,” he added.

Selby said the BASA is preparing protocols to send to the task force.

“Some countries in the Caribbean do not require testing based on the travel protocols Government has put in place. This is very fluid and it can change with breakouts in some of the territories and these are some of the things that we are trying to get approval for,” he added.

Barbados was scheduled to host the championships this year from April 11-14 before the coronavirus pandemic brought sports to a standstill in March.

Selby said the cancellation proved to be a major setback for the BASA.

“ CARIFTA in Barbados didn’t take place . . . . It would have pushed us back but there is nothing that could have been done under the circumstances. Safety was the main priority and in March we had to inform all the federations through the Caribbean that we could not host it because of COVID-19 and everybody understood.”

Six swimmers per lane

Selby also said that training at the

Aquatic Centre resumed in August under strict protocols.

“We are allowing only six swimmers per lane and everybody has to register, be sanitised, and get their temperature checked when they arrive at the pool.

In the stands, our protocols call for six feet distancing. Only eight persons are allowed in the showers and changing rooms at a time and these protocols are working pretty well,” he said.

The BASA president revealed that correspondence had been sent to Government for the association to put on two meets by year-end.

“Dolphins Swim Club would like to put on a long-course meet at the end of this month and we [BASA] would like to put on our Short-Course Nationals at the beginning of December. We do have protocols . . .

for training but once you are having competitions you should get approval and we have applied for that through the National Sports Council.

We are waiting on a decision on that.

“[Athletes from] all four of our disciplines – swimming, open water swimming, water polo and artistic swimming – are hard at training.

It would be good to have a couple competitions now for the athletes,” he said.

Tony Selby (FP)