Paul-Andre Walker, Staff Reporter
JACKIE WALTER
THE AMATEUR Swimming Association of Jamaica (ASAJ) began its second camp in preparation for the 2006 CARIFTA Games yesterday.
The camp, scheduled to run until tomorrow, will focus on speed work and will be conducted by Baylor High School coach in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Rick Bishop.
Bishop was Janelle Atkinson's coach at the 1999 Pan Am Games and now coaches Stephanie Napier, who happens to be the top High School sprinter in the US this year.
The sessions conducted by Bishop will run from 5:00 a.m-7:00 a.m. and 3:00-5:00 p.m. today while tomorrow they will be held from 5:30-8:30 a.m., and from 3:00 p.m-5:00 p.m.
Yesterday's session began at 4:00 p.m.
The ASAJ's technical director, Jackie Walter, said the camp would be integral to the success of the team and added the squad has a chance of bettering last year's sixth-place finish.
"We are having the camp this weekend as part of the preparations for the CARIFTA Games," Walter said. "We are at the stage in training where race preparation is key and the coach we are hosting specialises on producing sprint swimmers.
"We felt that it was a good time to bring him in. It's a follow on from the camp that we had in December where the focus was on distance swimmers," said Walter.
The camp will also have sessions geared towards training local coaches.
Today, from 11:00 a.m. to noon , the coaches will have their session, while parents of swimmers on the CARIFTA squad will go through a short course of their own from 5:15 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.
After Bishop looks at the different relay teams during the first two sessions, he will pay attention to common weaknesses that he will then try to iron out with the coaches.
