TT water polo teams prepare for CCCAN medal quest

Trinidad and Tobago managed to walk away with two gold medals last year in Guatemala, in the Girls Under-19 and Boys Under-16 categories.

And they will be looking to hunt for more medals at home.

The CCCAN Championships will be taking place from June 22 to July 2 where the swimming, water polo, diving and synchronised swimming disciplines would be contested at the National Aquatic Centre while the Open Water category will be held at Turtle Beach, Tobago from June 24-26.

Water polo competitions are scheduled from June 22-28 and will act as a qualifier for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games.

TT’s water-polo representation will come in the Boys Under-15, Boys Under-18, Girls Under-18, Senior Women and Senior Men categories as all teams went through their training routines, methods and drills.

In an interview with Newsday yesterday, coach of the national female teams, Charissa Hackshaw, expressed her ambitions heading into the competition. “So far the teams are looking very well, we started training just over three months ago where each week we conducted scrimmages and they have improved since.” She continued, “Now we are just working on the minor technical things and making sure we maintain the level where we want to be for the tournament.” Hackshaw is focused on her teams’ performances as she explained her main objective is to see them playing well and maintaining focus on the defensive end.

Also adopting the mindset of “a great defence is a great offence” is coach for the national senior men’s team, Andrew Francis.

He said, “This is one of the strongest (TT) teams I have seen heading into a CCCAN competition, in my years of experience, but what would win it for us is defence.

“We have enough firepower and goalscorers within but it is the strength and unity of our defense is what will have to get us through,” he added.

With the local players training just over a year together and the foreign-based players settling in under the natural conditions, the coach was able to pick his squad at the end of May and have been working with the athletes since then.

Slightly disappointed that the team was unable to participate in a preparation tournament ahead of CCCAN, due to funding, Francis is still confident his athletes have the physical capability and mindset to emerge victorious.

“Once we stay focused to the task given, we could pull off a surprise or two I believe,” Francis noted.