Lance Rochester’s expectations were high and eventually met as Jamaica’s teams came out of the recently concluded Carifta Water Polo Championships sporting four medals.

Rochester, the vice-president of water polo in the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica, believes the successful staging of the event which kicked off the 33rd staging of the Carifta Championships has set the tone for what is to come when swimming takes the spotlight next week.

Hosts Jamaica made finals in all four age groups on Sunday’s final day of competition at National Aquatic Centre, with the Under-19 female team mining gold along with silver medals for the Under-14 mixed team and the Under-16 and Under-19 male teams.

“Overall we are very happy with the championship in terms of how Jamaica hosted. I think we did a very good job there in terms of how we dealt with the visiting teams and also how we managed the competition itself, because there were no major issues,” Rochester told the Jamaica Observer.

“We appreciate those who came out — immediate family mainly and close friends of the whole swimming fraternity.

“But we have to continue working to get the sport exposed to broader Jamaica so that the next time the country hosts major water polo events, we can get a wider range of attendance which will fill up the entire stands,” he added.

But amidst his joy was an air of disappointment, as the Under-19 male team came in as defending champions and was confidently expected to retain the gold medal.

However, after sweeping through the preliminaries with 8-7 and 17-9 victories over Barbados and The Bahamas, Jamaica suffered a 10-13 defeat to the latter in a closely contested final.

Jamaica’s Cody Jones was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) and top goalscorer in the age group.

“We are a little disappointed even though the game was close; I guess the boys were under pressure being at home and we just didn’t deliver as we should have. But what it shows clearly is that the players need more competitive games against unfamiliar opponents.

“So we have to continue to work on our fund-raising to get them to travel more to play more games, because the Bahamas team, they travelled regularly to Miami to play plenty games on the weekends. So we have to get into that state of mind to give more exposure to our players,” Rochester stated.

Rochester also lauded the Under-14 mixed team on its silver medal after they defeated Curacao twice, 21-3 and 14-6, but lost to The Bahamas 5-18 and 2-16 in the final.

The Under-16 male team upgraded its bronze medal from last year to silver with 22-3 and 13-5 scorelines over Curacao and Barbados, respectively, but went down to The Bahamas 1-12 and 3-17 in the final.

Meanwhile the tournament’s outstanding goalkeeper, Kayla-Dawn Hernandez, and top goal-scorer Chenille Haughton, along with their Under-19 teammates came in for the highest praises after upgrading on last year’s silver medal.

They defeated Barbados 16-3, 16-7, 8-3, 7-2 and 10-3 in their best-of-five duel.

“The Barbados players are still developing, just like our girls. So while it was clear that we were stronger, the result was a show of our hard work and training to improve physically and technically over the past year when we came second,” Rochester noted.

Finally, Rochester, who also represents the national senior men’s team, pointed out that the teams have returned to training as they seek to improve their craft for further advancements.

The Central American and Caribbean Games in June, as well as the Junior Pan- American Games in July for the Under-19 teams will be their next major assignments.

The Junior Pan-Am Games will serve as a qualifier for the Junior World Championships next year.

“We have our sights set on the broader region where we are going to face teams stronger than we are, so we have to keep working to catch those Central and South American countries over time.

“The players are working towards that, so it is just a matter of preparing for those (upcoming) tournaments and try to attend some training camps or tournaments overseas to assist in those preparations,” Rochester ended.