The government’s push to expand swimming facilities across the island has taken on new urgency following the sudden closure of the country’s main aquatic venue over health concerns, forcing national swimmers to scramble for training space, Minister of Sports Charles Griffith told Parliament on Friday.
In the Estimates on the ministry’s appropriations for the new fiscal year, the minister said that the development has underscored the need for additional Olympic-sized swimming pools to introduce redundancy.
The Barbados Aquatic Centre was closed by the Ministry of Health on Thursday after the Ministry of Health determined that the facility was not fit for use.
The closure has already created challenges for swimmers preparing for the upcoming CARIFTA competitions, particularly the national team, which must maintain its training schedule ahead of the Easter break.
Griffith said: “I had to speak to the [permanent secretary] at the Ministry of Education seeking permission to use the facility at the old convent school for the purpose of having the national team that has participated in CARIFTA be able to practise.
“I know clubs may be disadvantaged a little bit over the next three weeks because the facilities will be used specifically for the national team to continue their preparation for CARIFTA at the Easter break.”
Griffith said the situation made it “absolutely necessary” that the government build two additional Olympic-sized swimming pools, which he described as critical for ensuring the country has adequate sporting infrastructure.
Trents in St James has been identified as the proposed site for a new pool in the north, while another facility is planned for Bushy Park in St Philip, adjacent to the 400-metre athletics track.
But he noted that the St James location will still require “necessary site visits” before construction proceeds.
“It is really now quite critical that we have the additional tools in place for redundancy,” Griffith said.
He explained that the current closure demonstrates the vulnerability of relying heavily on a single primary facility.
Director of the National Sports Council Neil Murrell said the growing popularity of swimming across Barbados has already been placing pressure on existing facilities.
Participation in the sport has expanded significantly over the past decade and a half, driven in part by community programmes designed to introduce more people to swimming, he said.
“We have been asked to do and we have been doing a learn to swim programme every summer where we attract over 1 000 persons from within the Barbadian community,” Murrell said.
The NSC has also introduced programmes tailored to older participants, which have proven equally popular: “We’ve had a mature elderly swimming programme which happens twice a year and for 10 weeks and it is oversubscribed.”
Murrell continued: “Swimming is certainly on the uptick in Barbados and therefore additional swimming facilities are needed to be able to facilitate the growth in swimming.”
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