Swimming Association floods National Sports Awards Ceremony

The discipline of Swimming swamped the 2014 National Sports Awards which took place last Saturday night at Spring Gardens Estate.

When the awards were announced, the swimming fraternity scooped five, retaining three titles and added two to the lot attained in 2013.{{more}}

Overall, the local swim body was again named Association of the Year and Kyle Dougan, who was named Coach of the Year at the 2013 ceremony, held on to his award.

Likewise, Shne Joachim was again adjudged the Junior Sportswoman of the Year.

The two new titles pouched last Saturday night were the Junior Sportsman of the Year, won by Nikolas Sylvester, while Joachim was adjudged the Sports Personality of the Year.

Both Joachim and Sylvester were star performers at local events, and went on to also win awards on the regional scene.

They copped gold medals at the championships staged by the Amateur Swimming Association of Trinidad and Tobago, the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association, the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre championships in St Lucia, as well as the Summer Festival in St Lucia.

At the OECS championships staged in St Lucia, Joachim won six gold medals and Sylvester pouched seven gold medals.

Joachim, however, went on to obtain a bronze medal at the Carifta Swim Championships, held in Aruba, and collected a silver and a bronze at the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships in Barbados.

Like Joachim, Sylvester was part of the St Vincent and the Grenadines swim team to the Commonwealth Games, held in Glasgow, Scotland.

Reports say they were among the youngest competitors in the Games.

After copping his award, Dougan told SEARCHLIGHT: “It is a great achievement …. I would like to thank the other coaches who have worked along with me to help the swimmers hone their strengths and without their help and support I would not have been in this position to accept this award now.”

Similar sentiments were expressed by Sylvester, who stated, “I am very proud of the award, but I want to thank my mother who has always been there for me, pushing….Also my coach Kyle Dougan, who has been pushing me very hard, trying to get me out there internationally.”

But Joachim was not on hand to receive her awards, as she currently attends school in Canada, where she is also continuing to progress with her swimming.

The awards ceremony was held under the theme: “Fostering Lasting Friendships Through Sports.”(RT)