Mc Lean: Goodwill integral to future swim success

Aug 02, 2011 Sports

Two-time Olympian Sharntelle Mc Lean is urging sponsors to get on board with the 17th Annual Goodwill Swim Meet which is scheduled for the 12th – 14th August 2011 at the Centre of Excellence, Trinidad and Tobago.
The meet is in jeopardy due to the lack of sponsorship and lack of available funds from the Ministry of Sport. The Ministry and SPORT have suggested the meet be cancelled due to the lack of funding.
Mc Lean who represented this country at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics is asking the government and corporate T&T not to underestimate the importance of this developmental meet.
“It is definitely worth the investment for these young up and coming swimmers. It paved the way for me and seeing this is where I got my start, I would love to see us host a successful Goodwill 2011.”
Mc Lean who started swimming competitively in 1997 at the age of 12 made her first national team in the same year, for the Goodwill Swim Meet in Suriname. She also made the team the following year when it was first hosted in Trinidad.
“My first experience I won two gold medals I believe and it was an exciting feeling to be on a team more so a national team. That year Linda Mc Eachrane (who made the 2004 Olympics with me as well) was also on the team that year ’97 and we became very good friends even though in the pool we were our greatest rivals. It was also a fun meet because everyone was interacting without any club restrictions because it was team T&T. In T & T in 1998 was even better because I got to compete in front of my family and friends and because of the experience i gained from that first team in ’97 I began to understand what it meant to compete for my country.”
Mc Lean went on to make every CARIFTA, CISC and CCCAN team up until the 2004 Olympics. She also made CAC, Pan AM, Commonwealth and Worlds. She attributes her Goodwill experience to assisting her step up and move on to the next level.
“Making that first team gave me my desire to seek out my potential limit with the sport and make it to the highest level. From making goodwill I saw what I was capable of and I wanted more. I gained more confidence and the urge to challenge myself for the next level and kept climbing from that point onwards until the Olympics. This gives the swimmers who have just missed out on the opportunity for the Carifta’s or CCCAN’s or CISC’s to send a warning for the next year that you will have to look out for them.”
At 27, Mc Lean is now a swimmer/coach at Torpedoes Swim Club and represented Trinidad and Tobago at the CCCAN Championships last month in Puerto Rico. She has made the ultimate cycle from a swimmer to an Assistant Coach on the 2011 Goodwill Team.
“The transition has not been a difficult one per se but more of an opportunity to give back to the sport that has made me into the person that I am today and I am able to share it with the up and coming future National swimmers of this country”.
Of more critical consequence is the fact that 110 athletes and officials from Barbados, Guyana and Suriname,, plus dozens of supporters from the said countries have already paid for flights and accommodation for the meet. Should the meet be cancelled it would be the first time in 17 years this meet would be in this position.
On this possibility, Mc Lean said “It is very disheartening to know that some of the struggles I went through in the ’90s is still very much alive and present. However it was not to a point of cancellation being a concern. There may have been an issue where a swimmer may not be able to travel because there was not enough financial support but not where the entire games would be called off. And it is most unfortunate that the country which usually dominates at the higher regional levels cannot afford to host this quadrangular meet.”
While the meet is in crisis, Mc Lean urges athletes to remain focused on their training and goals.
“Goodwill is the beginning for greater doors to be opened in this sport and they should aim for the next level. Always keep climbing the ladder though there may be a few slips on the way up. There would always be hurdles in the way but your determination and dedication to strive for your goals and aspirations in this sport, there is nothing that can deter you from achieving them.”

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