IT is no secret that Rory Alvaranga has been making waves in the swimming fraternity as his tried-and-true Ultra-Short Race-Pace Training (USRPT) methodology has proven to be very reliable.

The Kaizen Swim Club head coach, who has never shied away from trying something new, adopted the method conceptualised by swim scientist Dr Brent Rushall in 2013, with the intention of raising the level of swimming in Jamaica.

Though other local swim coaches didn’t readily gravitate towards the method, Alvaranga, a member of Ultra-Short Race-Pace Training International Association (USRPTIA), charted the course towards success with his daughter Zaneta as his protégé and soon the young starlet’s record-breaking performances at numerous local, regional and international meets added value to the methodology.

Alvaranga has not looked back since.

In fact the coach, who is dubbed the Gentle Giant by his swimmers, continued to grow his repertoire with the country’s young sensations.

“I am an avid reader and I gained a lot of my knowledge through books such as Foundations of Coaching, [ A Swimming] Technique Macrocycle, Swimming Pedagogy [and a Curriculum for Stroke Development], Understanding [& Implementing] USRPT and then Personal Best. So my aim has always been to impart as much knowledge as I can to the swimmers to help them realise their true potential so that, at the end of the day, Jamaica can benefit from their talent,” Alvaranga, who resurrected a swim programme at St Hugh’s Preparatory, told the Jamaica Observer.

“Because at the end of the day it is not about me, it is about what they do that brings pride to our nation. So, I am happy to play my part in ensuring that in the years to come, Jamaica can have a few more swimmers consistently following the trend of five-time Olympian and world short course record holder Alia Atkinson,” he added.

Alvaranga has always prided himself on having his swimmers peaking at the right time, as he places focus on increasing their preparedness to race effectively and reduce the possibility of being in an unnecessarily stressed state in competition.

That was again demonstrated at the recently concluded Central American and Caribbean Confederation (CCCAN) Swimming Championships where three of the swimmers under his care – Christanya Shirley, Kito Campbell and Kaheem Lozer – accounted for nine of the 22 medals in Puerto Rico.

Shirley stood out for the girls with four medals, producing personal best times in all but one event while Campbell took down two national age group and senior records in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, and Lozer achieved Pan Am Junior B times.

Alvaranga now feels gratified that his dedication to the USRPT is paying dividends.

“At a recent FINA online certification course put on by the Cayman Swimming Association, I was informed that one of our local coaches brought up USRPT in an effort to discredit the methodology as being fruitful, and my response was that none of that will change my using it [USRPT] ,” Alvaranga shared.

“The success of these amazing youngsters will keep proving that Kaizen Swim Club’s coaching skills are of international standards and I believe, based on feedback, that the parents are grateful for the care and time put into exposing their children to world-class standards right here in Jamaica,” he noted.

With the performances of Zaneta and now Campbell and others giving further traction to USRPT’s success, Lynval Lowe of Swimaz Aquatic swim club has given the method his endorsement while calling for significant improvement in the middle-distance programmes.

“I would like to congratulate all the swimmers of the 2021 CCCAN National Team for their outstanding achievements. Their performances demonstrated a high level of preparedness by their coaches, their own grit and resilience, and a strong belief in their abilities. But amidst these outstanding performances I would like to talk about Mr Alvaranga’s programme — Ultra-Short Race-Pace Training (USRPT).

“His daughter, Zaneta, has been a part of the programme that he uses and she has performed outstandingly over the years. She was the top butterflyer and freestyler in the region utilising the USRPT approach. At that time she was the only senior swimmer involved in that programme and it definitely worked.

“Fast-forward to present day and more athletes are involved in the programme, and we are now seeing the results of the programme with other swimmers performing exceptionally well as evidenced in the performances of Kito Campbell and Kaheem Lozer at the recently concluded 2021 CCCAN Championship,” Lowe said in a message to coaches.

“For the betterment of the swimmers and the country, there[ [isn’t any] reason why we can’t incorporate the USRPT approach into other current traditional training programmes. We need more swimmers in 400m, 800m and 1,500m so my charge, therefore, to all interested stakeholders is for there to be a deliberate effort to build our distance programme and incorporate the USRPT approach to enhance the sprinting programme,” he added.

For Alvaranga, the endorsement brings a sense of appreciation.

“I feel a sense of appreciation that persons are seeing the results of my work, in particular the parents who bring their children to Kaizen to be a part of our development. And we can only look to good health and continuous improvements on our journey,” Alvaranga said with a sense of humility.