Schools at heart of push to rebuild sport after three-year hiatus

A programme aimed at reviving water polo in Barbados is expected to get under way next month after a three-year hiatus, with children between five and 14 years old at the heart of efforts to rebuild the sport.

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment and the Barbados Aquatic Sports Association (BASA) are joining forces on the initiative, which will first take water polo into schools before expanding into communities.

Plans for the revival were discussed during a meeting between Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Charles Griffith, BASA Vice-President and former national water polo coach Senator Ryan Forde and former BASA president Cheryl Lady Forde at the ministry’s headquarters.

The programme is expected to begin towards the end of September and will cater to both boys and girls.

BASA has already secured $27,000 for equipment, including a $25,000 grant from the Rise and Reign Foundation and another $2,000 raised by former water polo players.

Forde said the equipment, which is being cleared, will be handed over to the National Sports Council for use in primary and secondary school programmes and future development camps.

Griffith said the intention was not simply to restart water polo after three years, but to put a structure in place that could sustain its development.

“The fact that three years would have passed in relation to us not having a dedicated aquatics programme that is targeting water polo, I think that this is a welcome initiative by BASA to be involved or to restart this particular programme,” he said.

“We’re looking to do this within the school setting first and then to expand at community level. I am fully supportive of the initiative and whatever assistance that government can put in place to assist, we will do that.”

Several secondary schools have already been identified, while Griffith said other individuals interested in the programme could contact BASA or the ministry to register.

He said participation in the initial phase would help determine how the programme develops, with the possibility of water polo becoming a perennial programme.

“As mentioned by Ryan, this is a developmental programme, and first we’re going to restart the programme, see what it is looking like in terms of those persons who are involved,” Griffith said.

“I think it is something that can be budgeted as a perennial programme to ensure that we have a structured programme and one that will provide an opportunity for our youngsters.”

For Forde, the revival is also an opportunity to introduce more young Barbadians to aquatics beyond competitive swimming.

“I’m very excited because from an aquatic standpoint, it gives opportunity to young Barbadians to experience different types of aquatics because our aim is to teach the swimming, to teach water safety and also then to introduce them to the sport of water polo, which is very similar to football but in the water,” he said.

While the dedicated aquatics programme targeting water polo has been absent for three years, Forde said a structured schools programme has been missing for considerably longer.

“We’ve not had a structured school programme from when I was a child 20, 30 years ago,” he said.

“It means that every child now has multiple opportunities to choose from, and that’s what we need, especially as we see how the world is going. The more opportunities, the better.”

Forde pointed to Barbados’ long association with the sport, recalling water polo being played in Carlisle Bay during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, with teams representing the police, army and Harrison College.

He said previous generations also established Barbados among the stronger water polo teams in the Caribbean and competed against opposition from Latin and North America.

Rebuilding to that level, however, will take time.

“It takes a couple of years with any sport and as the Minister rightfully said, we started with development,” Forde said.

He identified the teenage years as a critical stage, when players would require increased competition, tournaments and mentorship to continue their development.

Griffith said scholarship opportunities could eventually become another part of that pathway, allowing promising players to pursue their sporting and academic development.

Safeguarding will also be incorporated into the programme because of the involvement of young athletes.

“All of our coaches that are attached to the ministry, the safeguarding programme is something that is standard because we need to ensure that best practices ensue,” Griffith said.

“So the safeguarding component is something that will definitely be married to any programme that we do.”  

(PR/BT)