Minister gives nod to sports tourism push

A Barbadian swim club with ambitions to tackle athlete burnout, strengthen technical development and position the island as a destination for sports tourism, has gained the support of Minister of Sports and Community Empowerment Charles Griffith. The initiative, led by New Wave Swim Club, was highlighted during a meet-and-greet session with the minister at the Barbados Aquatic Centre in Wildey, St Michael, where swimmers taking part in a two-week summer clinic were introduced to visiting coach Kyle Dougan of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Head coach and owner of New Wave Swim School, Akilah Lashley, described the initiative as a part of a wider sports tourism vision aimed at bringing elite coach talent to Barbados rather than requiring local athletes to travel overseas for exposure and development opportunities. “This is an opportunity for New Wave and other clubs to get development on their technique while staying in Barbados. This is sports tourism, focusing on bringing in coaches instead of us travelling to other coaches.  “We get to see Caribbean coaches and regional coaches at all different levels of coaching ability, while the swimmers still get to have fun, be home for the summer and be exposed to all walks of technique and work,” she said. Lashley stressed that the programme was intended to benefit the wider swimming fraternity and not just the New Wave Swim club. “This is an opportunity for all the clubs to bond because it is not just New Wave. We want them to be able to see that we can all work together for the development of swimming in Barbados.” The clinic caters to swimmers ranging in age from nine to 18 years old, including national representatives and aspiring national swimmers. Lashley said Barbados was well positioned to become a destination for regional swim development because of the quality of its facilities. Minister of Sports Charles Griffith praised the initiative and encouraged other sporting organisations to follow New Wave’s example. “I think this initiative is one that should be replicated by the bigger clubs. The fact that one of the smaller clubs is able to bring in a coach from one of our neighbouring countries to help train our youngsters and get them to the next level is definitely a plus,” he said. Griffith noted that exposure to coaches from different countries could only strengthen athlete development. “Any time you have coaches from a different jurisdiction who are able to share new skills and new techniques, it can only benefit our young swimmers going forward. These youngsters are still at the very beginning stage of their swimming careers and opportunities such as this can only help them improve and develop.” The minister also suggested government could provide support for future editions of the programme. “I am hearing about it now for the first time and hopefully next year government may be able to offer some small assistance to Ms. Lashley to make sure that this becomes bigger. If we can have swimmers from other Caribbean islands coming here to participate in this clinic, it will do a number of things because sports tourism is key in terms of what we are trying to achieve.” (PR) The post Minister gives nod to sports tourism push appeared first on Barbados Today.