Barbados Water Polo Club looking to build ranks

A marriage of two disciplines could likely see the revolution of the local sports scene. With the ultimate aim of bringing the best out the island’s young athletes as well as opening every available door, the Barbados Water Polo Club launched their Learn to Swim and Learn to Play Water Polo 2017 programme.

Slated to run for 10 weeks in the first instance before going into another cycle at the start of the next school term, children from as young as three years old are encouraged to take in the initiative as the club seeks to bolster the ranks of the island’s swimmers and water polo players.

With the programme open to all interested persons, it is scheduled to begin on May 23rd and during a media briefing this past Friday evening, Barbados Water Polo Head Coach Ryan Forde explained that the time had come for an end of the segregation of sports in Barbados, noting that it was a common practice around the world.

“In any sport, it is always good to feed off of other sports and in Barbados, instead of the segregation of multiple aquatic or multiple track sports, youngsters need to be able to focus on multiple sports at once as it helps them build in their main sport. The beginning part of water polo is swimming. The only difference is that it has a ball and it is a team sport,” he said.

The initiative is geared towards teaching young persons all strokes and techniques of swimming while teaching the fundamentals of water polo, and hopes to incorporate other aquatic sports in the future. The model is one that is used across the globe with only the Caribbean utilising a system where the sports are separated. Speaking during the conference at the Barbados Olympic Association, Club President Wayne Beckles stated that the club should be able to share the talents with its parent federation, the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association. “We realise that through our federation being swimming-focused, they are slowly coming around and we aim to continue to work with them to secure the benefits because what is happening in some quarters is that a number kids, even here in our club, they were former swimmers, and swimming is an individual sport. However, we are trying to encourage clubs where children who no longer like swimming or have become disenchanted can probably transition to water polo if they see fit...” Beckles stated.

The programme has already begun to see some returns and the club is on track to taking the island back to the glory days of the 50s and 70s as youth teams have been winning medals at regional tournaments and dispatching rivals that had them under-heel as close as three years ago. With the programme set to receive support and resources from the Barbados Defence Force, the Barbados Olympic Association, the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organisation, as well as public figures, the young athletes are expected to be armed to the teeth to do well in sport and life.

“The club is not only committed to developing sportsmen. Throughout our various age groups, we will be looking at areas like public speaking, first aid, CPR, etiquette and social skills because we need to develop, holistically, future leaders of Barbados and the Caribbean. And we are using sport, namely water polo, as the vehicle to develop these young minds and our future leaders,” Beckles said.

This edition of the programme runs from this coming Tuesday and continues each week at the Aquatic Centre from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, and on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. July 29th will mark the end of this cycle. (MP)