How BASA is helping to produce the Olympian athletes of the future

Bermuda has the potential to produce world-class swimmers of the future, thanks to BASA’s training programmes, according to national coach Ben Smith.

Mr Smith said: “We have several swimmers now at the CARIFTA level and we had multiple winners at the CISC championships last year, so we are doing very well in our region.

“We also have many swimmers now overseas at prep schools and at the university level. It’s a tribute to our programme that we’ve taken these athletes from seven and eight-year-olds to students now in their twenties who are still swimming at a competitive level.”

Mr Smith is a former competitive swimmer who swam for the Sharks Swim Club, the national Bermuda team and then for his college, Springfield College in Massachusetts, US.

“When I returned home from college I started helping out with the Sharks Swim Club and got involved with coaching,” he said.

“I then applied for the aquatics manager’s job at BASA and have been working here for eight years now.

Dedication

“From a national coach standpoint, I’m really pleased with the dedication of the national team.

“With the swimmers we are producing, there is the talent to progress further on the international stage.

“They are focused and determined and it’s great to see the work they are doing. They will be great role models for the next generation to come.”

He said: “It’s important to get a new crop of swimmers each year.

“We have 28 swimmers currently participating in the BASA Training Programme (from age 10 to late teens). This takes place on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, and from this we select our overseas competitors for Bermuda.

“Most of these swimmers swim five to eight practices a week, plus workouts out of the water.

“The training, under national coach guidance, helps to get them to the level of competition they need to be, and the results of the last several years suggests that the programme is leading to some really good results in our region.

“Hopefully this will also lead to more swimmers reaching the Olympics.

“But we can only do that by having more swimmers at each year age group and pushing them to reach this high level.”

Mr Smith also praised BASA’s wider role.

“BASA is in charge of not just swimming but all aquatics. There hasn’t been much in the other disciplines but with the new pool (the Aquatics Centre) coming on line, you will be seeing more involvement with other sports.

“But with swimming itself, with the number of young swimmers and the good results we’ve been getting over the last several years, I think BASA has been very successful in moving swimming forward.”

The renovations to the pool at Saltus will only assist in this goal, he said.

“With a 30-year-old pool made of concrete, it had reached the point where it needed a facelift, and we also needed to make sure the structure was sound.

Safety

“So it was an opportunity for us to really get inside the tank and make sure it was sound, which it was.

“The resurfacing of the pool also makes it more pleasant to look at. Things had started to erode and the bottom didn’t look as good as we would have liked.

“The water was very clean but now the pool is beautiful to look at, and this makes it better for cleaning as well.

“With a brand new surface you can also make sure the clarity of the water is at a high level.

“We repainted the changing rooms and Tab Froud organized getting the starting blocks resurfaced. After a while they start to wear away and so become more slippery. The new surface makes a huge difference in grip for swimmers making starts.”

He said: “We also installed new lane lines and lighting.

“This was important for safety because when you have the national team and the Masters swimmers both training at 6am in the morning, for most of the year it’s quite dark, with not enough light. It’s important to make sure people can see where they are going, particularly when diving in, to be safe.

“Technology has changed over the years and so now with the LED lights, it looks like it’s light outside when we have them on.

“All in all, these changes have made a huge difference to the facility.”

Mr Smith stressed that everyone should learn how to swim.

“It’s a priority for us at BASA to try to get as many people as possible to learn how to swim.

“The idea is to start as young as possible and to get children to learn how to be safe around the water.

“A lot of times, people jump off the dock. But you should know the depth of the water before you do that, and even then, it should be a feet-first venture rather than diving in.

“Knowing how to be able to tread water is also important.

“Children in Bermuda are around water so much of the time, whether it’s at a swimming pool or the beach, or boating.

“Just having the basic ability to keep your head above water to be able to breathe, this is so important to teach.”