Though the eighth staging of the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships has been added to the list of international events that Jamaica’s swimmers can look forward to, uncertainty still surrounds their participation for more reasons than one.

Along with the health concerns of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has resulted in no competition being hosted locally in over a year and leaving coaches pondering the readiness of athletes, the Martin Lyn-led Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) will also have money worries to overcome, if they are to send a team to the August 24-29 event in Kazan, Russia.

The World Junior Championships, a biennial event, which serves as a showcase for some of the world’s young and promising swimmers, will precede the inaugural PanAm Junior Championships in Cali, Colombia, in September that Lyn and his team are also hoping to have athletes compete at, all things being equal.

While the Junior PanAm Games fall under the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) banner, Lyn says there is no guarantee that any assistance will be forthcoming from the local body, but revealed that the organisation has received some support from FINA to assist in having athletes make the trip.

However, according to Lyn, the financial burden of the World Juniors will rest mainly on the ASAJ and, possibly, parents, much like it was in 2019 when an eight-member team struggled to meet their budget of US$32,000 (about J$4.1 million) at that time.

Then, the Wendy Lee-coached team was assisted through donations via a GoFundMe page and other private sponsors.

“Yes, those are what we are concentrating on: the first Junior PanAm Games and the World Juniors in Kazan. The latter is a good meet to attend, but it’s the expense of getting there that may be a challenge and is already a concern for us because funds are always limited.

“So we will have to seek some sponsorship to get us to the World Juniors because JOA doesn’t sponsor that, so the responsibility is on the ASAJ and private sponsorship. So those are what we will be looking forward to, for sure,” Lyn told the Jamaica Observer.

“And then of course, we are still hoping that Carifta and CCCAN will take place. Even though Panama has declined to host the latter, the powers that be are looking for another country to host that championship. So we remain optimistic that our swimmers will have some overseas action this year,” he added.

Still, with the country’s juniors, in particular, having endured a lengthy break from competitive swimming, which, coaches say is a cause for concern with regard to their mental and physical well-being, pressure has now been mounted on Lyn to ensure that the ASAJ hosts at least one meet soon.

But the president in his defence pointed out that the recent spike in positive cases and record numbers which came in for Saturday and Sunday have derailed plans to get swimmers back in action.

“With the spike in COVID cases, the prime minister has indicated to the Ministry of Sport that no decisions would be made until March 22, at least. But the ASAJ has in fact submitted our revised protocols for hosting what we are calling a swim trial.

“However, they [Ministry of Sport and Ministry of Health and Wellness] have told us that they will look over all of the information that we sent them and let us know as soon as possible. So we are gearing up for a positive response,” Lyn explained.

Meanwhile, Rory Alvaranga, head coach of Kaizen Swim Club, which had its meet cancelled late last year after failing to get ASAJ approval, believes more needs to be done to assist Jamaica’s age group swimming, if athletes are to have the slightest chance of being at their optimum against the best in the world.

“The situation is a worrying one for me as the swimmers are unable to race and keep their race game sharp. Mental focus in a race environment, reaction times and strategies, are all off at this time, and swimmers are not all motivated as they were disappointed at not being able to race and are just training for nothing, it seems,” Alvaranga reasoned.

“So a lot of questions currently surround the readiness of Jamaica’s swimmers, as we have not had a single occasion to race since the pandemic struck the island.

“Just last week we hosted an in-house trial session and the swimmers were just off for the most part, mentally and in their times. I saw good efforts also and good manual times which doesn’t represent true times due to human element versus a swim meet with automatic timing systems,” the national coach said.