After Jamaica’s impressive showing at the 2025 Carifta Aquatics Championships, Aquatics Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) President Lance Rochester is urging corporate Jamaica to make a significant investment in the sport to ease the current financial burden of the association and its athletes.

The nation’s swimmers finished second overall in the five-day championships in Trinidad last week, tallying 795.50 points behind champions Bahamas with 979 points. Jamaica, who collected 56 medals (21 gold, 19 silver and 16 bronze), bettered their standings from 2023 and 2024 where they finished fourth.

Along with the points and medal haul, Jamaica broke five records including Noland Barrett in the Boys’ 13-14 200m freestyle, Brady Lewison in the Boys’ 15-17 50m freestyle, Skyelar Richards in the Girls’ 13-14 50m backstroke and the boys’ and girls’ 200m freestyle relay teams.

The team were almost on the verge of not making the trip to the championships as they were struggling to meet the required $10 million. However, fund-raising initiatives including a car wash as well as last minute sponsorships allowed the team to compete.

Rochester, though, believes Jamaica has proven their worth each year and wants private sector companies to recognise their efforts.

“The truth of the matter is the burden falls principally on the parents and it’s too much weight to bear,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We need to support our parents, we need to support the association so we need the support from corporate Jamaica to allow our athletes to get these opportunities to perform and to bring glory to Jamaica. We’re appealing to corporate Jamaica to see the value that exists across aquatics in swimming but also with artistic swimming, water polo and a developing diving programme and we’re looking forward to corporate Jamaica coming on board to give us more support.”

Rochester says the local aquatics governing body is working to ensure the swimmers are as well-resourced as possible.

“We think our athletes have continued to demonstrate the capacity that exists in aquatic sports, in particular swimming. The ASAJ has its role to play also in helping to ensure corporate Jamaica sees that value and in terms of how we market ourselves, our image and governance and we’re also trying,” he said.

The 21 gold medals won in Trinidad were higher than the 19 combined won in 2023 and 2024. Jamaica also improved their performances in the distance and relay events and Rochester praised the technical and coaching team for their strategic vision.

“What the technical team did was look at the gaps, look at the areas we weren’t scoring points and addressed that in terms of the selection process. So we sought to field as many relay teams as possible and they didn’t just score points, in most instances, they were gold-medal performances so that was an important element in terms of getting up on the points standings,” he said.

“The technical team also looked at events where we weren’t scoring points like the 200m butterfly and the 1,500 freestyle where we got on the medal table and that was deliberate from the technical side.”

Rochester also believes Head Coach Kafia Rapley and Lemone Lowe played a big role in the team’s success.

“Through the coaching team, they engaged the athletes and let them see the value in the events and change their mindset because athletes sometimes just want to swim the sprints. They have to understand the importance of these other events in terms of their own development and contributing to the team’s performances,” he said.

ROCHESTER…. we need the support from corporate Jamaica to allow our athletes to get these opportunities to perform and to bring glory to Jamaica