Franz Huggins, Head Coach of the national team for the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships, is quietly confident that his team of five has what it takes to deliver Trinidad and Tobago’s best performance yet at this meet. Tyla Martin, Kristin Julien, Dylan Carter, Jonathan Ramkissoon and Joshua Romany are T&T’s standard bearers for the games from August 26 – 31 at the fourth edition, to be held at the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Sports Complex in Dubai, UAE.
Huggins, who was selected as coach in late July sees the World Junior Championships as a precursor to senior elite meets.
“It is an extremely high quality meet and can be a real springboard for success and a wakeup call,” the coach said. “Not doing well here is not the end of the world, however, not learning what it means to be a world-beater, after seeing one in the flesh is a crime against the sport. Our athletes too many times see the end of the journey as making the team.
“Learning to be great through practice and observation is critical to this being a success. We want the swimmers on this team, to go on to be CAC, Commonwealth and Pan Am medallists and finalists/medallists at World Championships and Olympics. It’s not just what you’ve done as a junior swimmer, it’s how you have applied it as you transfer to senior swimming.”
The team has not trained together as a unit, but have been the beneficiaries of high level training both at home and overseas. Carter has been based at Davie Nadadores Swim Club Fort Lauderdale since September. Martin, who lives in the USA, trains with Pine Crest Swim Club in Florida. Romany, Ramkissoon and Julien have been training locally for the most part.
Romany of Areios Aquatechs joined Carter in Davie in June to complete preparations with the Davie team. Julien and Ramkissoon also had a two week stint at Davie in June and returned home to train with Titans Swim Club. Ramkissoon went off to Davie in August, while Julien joined Martin in Pine Crest. The trio of Romany, Ramkissoon and Carter are now in Kuwait for acclimatisation training with the Davie Group, while the entire team is expected to be in Dubai by August 24th.
Huggins sees training overseas as a positive as the athletes experience training with their peers of similar quality and ambition which allows them to be competitive on a daily basis, and experience training conditions which are more conducive to success.
“I do not disagree with athletes choosing to train abroad. I simply wish that we could do something about lessening the occurrence at junior level as a start. Qualifying for a championship does not make an athlete or a coach successful. We have to perform, and the fact is we have only had one swimmer consistently perform at a high level, and even he has chosen to leave these shores after attempting to train locally,” he added.
As head coach, Huggins sees his role as reinforcing their good training and providing reassurance that they are in great shape and ready to execute.
“I have been in contact with the primary coaches of all the athletes and know the hard work each and every athlete has put in. I plan to provide them with tips for dealing with situations as they arise as the competition starts. I see myself as that final supportive face they see before going into battle. As much as each coach has done with each athlete, I am responsible for the moral and overall performance of the Trinidad and Tobago swim team.”
T & T’s highest performance to date is a 17th place finish by Kimberlee John Williams in the 2011 meet in Peru. All in all Huggins is very positive about his team’s prospects in Dubai.
“I remain quietly confident that this will be our most successful foray into a World Junior Championships. To date, we have not had anyone go past the opening round of the World Junior meet. My hope is that every one of these athletes does so in at least one event. With some good fortune, we may get a medal or two.”
Team: Tyla Martin, Kristin Julien, Dylan Carter. Jonathan Ramkissoon and Joshua Romany ;Dean Romany (manager), Franz Huggins (head coach), June Durham (physio), Jacqueline Pantin-Romany (chaperone).