Giani Francis is delighted to have been given the responsibility to serve as team captain for the young Jamaican team set to compete at the 26th Goodwill Swimming Championships in Trinidad and Tobago starting Friday and ending on Sunday.

The 16-year-old said that she wasn’t surprised at being given the role of team captain to the Championships.

“I don’t think it was a surprise to be honest. I really love motivating people and I think the team members and the coaches saw that in me. I am also the team captain of the Speedos, so my coach (Gillian Millwood) vouched for me to be the team captain as well, because she’s seen how hard I work with my teammates and how well I work with them as well and I am very happy that I’m the captain,” she revealed.

Francis is also highly motivated ahead of the championships having been exposed to a high level of training and seen other young swimmers perform for Jamaica at the recent Commonwealth Games.

“It has definitely motivated me to aim for higher meets and train even harder. Going outside of Jamaica to train has opened my eyes to how much we are probably sleeping in terms of training and we really need to train harder and just go harder every day,” she said.

“It also motivated me to see my friends at the Commonwealth Games representing Jamaica because I know a few of them, Nathaniel Thomas and Keto Campbell. Just seeing them always taking planes to go back and forth representing the country is very motivating,” she continued.

The Campion College student expects the team to do well considering that the local swimming season ended just recently.

“I know that we’ll do really well because the season almost just ended and from those swim meets, we have excelled really well.

“I’m just really looking forward to the team members putting in their effort, for not only the team, but for themselves as well and I know if the team members put it in for themselves then it would aid in the overall greatness of the team.”

On a personal level, Francis is hoping to put down some fast times and reconnect with friends from other Caribbean territories while in Trinidad.

“I am hoping to achieve best times, not letting the nerves get to me too much, using it as motivation and fuel to just mash up my races really and truly and I am just looking forward to see all my friends from the Caribbean, that I met from other meets and I am just looking to enjoy myself.”

The Jamaican contingent which includes 25 swimmers left the island on Wednesday hoping to match or surpass their inaugural showing of 32 medals at the championships in 2018.