Swimmers at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Club recorded improvements in approximately 78 percent of their personal-best times over the last school year, following a significant increase in training at the Rodney Bay-based club.
The results come after RAC expanded its swimming programme from two to three training days per week to six under Head Coach Bradford Worrell, who returned to Saint Lucia after spending 11 years operating a swimming school in the United States with his brother.
Worrell said the young swimmers have responded well to the heavier training schedule, with the improvements in their times providing an early measure of the programme’s progress.
The results are also beginning to translate into national opportunities. Eight-and-under swimmers Legacy John and Liam Benjamin have been selected to represent Saint Lucia at the 30th Goodwill Swimming Championships in Trinidad and Tobago.
While RAC has increased the amount of time its swimmers spend in the pool, Worrell said the club is also looking beyond physical training as it considers how academics, nutrition and rest affect young athletes.
“It’s not really just swimming hard,” Worrell said, pointing to study habits, rest and nutrition as areas he intends to incorporate into a wider programme for RAC swimmers in the fall.
Among the planned changes is a study hall programme aimed at allowing swimmers to receive academic support at the facility rather than having to miss training for after-school programmes. Worrell said his sister-in-law, a teacher who previously taught at Montessori School, will assist in developing the initiative.
The club is also considering changes to its kitchen to improve nutritional options for athletes, along with the introduction of an on-site strength and conditioning programme.
Worrell said the wider objective is to create opportunities for young swimmers from different backgrounds to develop and potentially represent Saint Lucia.
He believes there remains significant room for young athletes to progress into national teams, while pointing to the success of Saint Lucian athletes as an example of what dedication can produce.
For Legacy John, that ambition is already considerable. Worrell said the young swimmer identified reaching the Olympic Games as her goal at the beginning of the season, something he said has challenged him to consider how RAC’s programme can provide the level of competition and exposure necessary for its swimmers to continue progressing
