Home|Sports|Bruney looking to lead team to a fifth straight winSports
Swim team ready to compete in Curaçao; competition starts today
Simba FrenchSend an emailApril 6, 2023 189 2 minute readFacebookTwitterLinkedInShare via Email
CARIFTA first-year head coach for The Bahamas Camron Bruney said the team is ready to go after a fifth consecutive CARIFTA Swimming Championships title. The team is currently in Willemstad, Curaçao, for the 36th edition of the meet.
Action gets underway today at the Sentro Deportivo Kòrsou – Pisina “Enith Brigitha” in Curaçao, starting at 9 a.m.
The team was practicing primarily on Saturdays leading up to this week and added this past Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as practice days as the out-of-town swimmers joined the local swimmers.
“The practices have been awesome,” Bruney said. “For the new people, sometimes, nerves get to them being around so many experienced and competitive swimmers when they come into this space. After a few practices, they were able to warm up and got comfortable. They were able to bring the energy and team spirit.”
Going for five straight wins and seven out of eight championships brings some pressure with it. For Bruney, he said that feeling was there earlier but is no longer there.
“I was feeling some pressure earlier on but as I got more involved with the kids and got to know them, I saw their level of confidence grow. The pressure is not there anymore. I have more confidence in all 36 swimmers. They will go out there and do their best and the result will take care of itself,” he said.
Working along with Bruney as assistant coaches are Travano McPhee, who was the head coach for the past three championships, and Mancer Roberts Jr. Bruney said they have seen some good things from the team over the past month.
“We have good strength in all the age groups. I do not see any weaknesses on this team,” he said. “Everyone has a chance to do their part, pull their weight and that is how we are going to come back with five straight titles.”
For Bruney, who represented The Bahamas at the CARIFTA level in swimming in 2007 and again in 2009 as a breaststroke and a freestyle swimmer, he is happy to see what the federation has done with swimming in the country. Under the guidance of the Bahamas Aquatics Federation, The Bahamas has won four straight CARIFTA swimming titles and six out of seven.
“In my time, swimming for The Bahamas, we had a chance to win and we did not win that year,” he said. “To come back more than 10 years later and see the growth of swimming in The Bahamas and to say we have swimmers who go and win medals and we come first, that is amazing. It is good to see that we have Bahamian coaches doing their craft and producing great results at CARIFTA.”
CARIFTA swimming is points-based and the coaching staff is ensuring that the team does well in the relays which counts for double points. Bruney noted that they have been working on starts and exchanges.
The Bahamas came away with 975 total points for a win in the four-day meet in Barbados in 2022. Overall, The Bahamas finished with 65 total medals – 14 gold, 22 silver and 29 bronze. Jamaica was second with 833.50 points and the Cayman Islands finished third with 754 points.