The St Vincent and the Grenadines Swimming Federation (SVGSF) national swim team will be competing in the 31st OECS Swimming Championships to be held in St Lucia November 10th to 12th.
The OECS Swimming Championships are an annual event featuring countries from the OECS with competitive Swimming programs. Team SVG departs on Thursday 9th November to participate in the competition.
The SVGSF will be sending a team of 26 swimmers and two coaches with Kyle Dougan as Head Coach and Tamarah St. Hilaire as Assistant head coach.
This year the championships also feature athletes from Antigua, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Martinique, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Medals are provided to the top three swimmers in each swim event and each age category.
Each country can accumulate points based on the position of their two best swimmers in each age category and event. The team accumulating the most points is declared the OECS Swimming Champion. Team SVG is unlikely to be competitive in the team aspect of the competition since we only have 26 swimmers while Grenada, St Lucia and defending champion Antigua all have full teams of 34 athletes. In addition to the team championship, the individual with the most points in each age group is the overall champion of that age group.
The athletes selected to represent Team SVG in their age groups are as follows:
- 8 & Under: Saj Ceasar, Zane Dabriel, Nua Griffith and Amelia DesVignes.
- 9-10: Kione Deshong, Caghry Williams, Belle Adams and Skylar Byron.
- 11-12: Tyler Robinson, Jadon Hamilton, Eltonique Leonard and Tayeah St. Hilaire.
- 13-14: Mathew Ballah, Seth Byron, Hazen Dabriel, Kathryn Cumberbatch and Zariel Nelson.
- 15 – 17: Brandon George, Eltonte Leonard, Kevern DaSilva, Abigail Deshong, Kennice Green and Rhema Robinson. Para swimmer Kentreal Kydd shall also participate in this age group.
- 18 & over: Kenale Alleyne and Nikolas Sylvester
The competition is expected to be keenly contested and will feature some of the best swimmers in the Caribbean. Team SVG are hope full of obtaining many individual medals and should also be favorites for some age group champions.
“We expect to see the best from SVG’s elite swimmers and while we do not yet have the depth and numbers to challenge for the overall team championships, we expect several of our individual swimmers to do very well in the individual events and bring home medals to SVG,” the SVG Swimming Federation said in a press release.
The Vincentians athlete’s participation has received financial support from the National Lottery and the St Vincent and the Grenadines Olympic Committee (SVGOC). Parents and the federation picked up the deficit.