From Cayman Islands Swimming

CARIFTA 2015 – CIASA/FINA Referee Tom McCallum and CIASA Judge level 2 officials Michelle Bailey and Jacky Rowland (both now in training for level of Starter) will be attending CARIFTA (April 4-7 2015) in Barbados as Technical Officials. All are competent and well-know officials around local Meets:

Tom has been a swimming official for many years and has officiated internationally for over a decade. 2015 is the 30th anniversary of Carifta Swimming and also marks 10 years since Tom first attended Carifta. 2015 will mark Tom’s last Carifta with one of his children swimming, though his own career as an official will continue.Tom is also a Past President of Cayman Swimming (CIASA) and in his years on the CIASA Board helped bring a strong focus to development of officials in Cayman both locally and on the international stage. Tom is now one of three current FINA Referees from Cayman and is one of a strong and growing group of qualified and experienced CIASA swimming officials. For Carifta 2015, Tom is very much looking forward to renewing friendships with other Caribbean officials and to playing his part as one member of the top quality officiating crew for this signature meet for Caribbean swimming.

Michelle has been officiating at swim meets in Cayman for about 4 years, since her two children have become competitive swimmers. Coming from a background of competitive swimming and teaching learn to swim in her younger years in New Zealand, she fell naturally into the role of technical official. She actively and regularly participates as a technical official in swim meets held in Cayman and has recently acted as stroke and turn judge at a swim meet held in Jamaica. Michelle is currently on the CIASA Technical Committee, Open Water Committee and Representative Team Committee. She also holds the executive position of Secretary on the Board of Directors for the Stingray Swim Club. Having attended CARIFTA for the last three years as a supporter, Michelle is looking forward to meeting and working with other Caribbean officials at this year’s CARIFTA in Barbados.

Jacky became an active member of the Cayman swim community approximately five years ago as a way of supporting her son and daughter’s love for and participation in the sport. Her daughter still swims competitively for a local club. Jacky soon realized that a swim parent spends a lot of time at the pool so decided to put the time to good use by training as a swim official. She regularly participates as a technical official at local swim meets and recently stood as a Judge at the Karl Dalhouse Meet 2015 in Jamaica to gain some valuable experience officiating at a 50m pool. She is looking forward to attending CARIFTA as an official this year and forging new friendships and working relationships with officials from other jurisdictions. In addition to officiating, Jacky is a member of CIASA’s FINA/Technical Committee and, as such, assists the Training Coordinator with training of technical officials on Island. She is a parent liaison for both her club (CBAC) and CIASA and sits on the Committee challenged with the goal of a 50m pool facility in the Cayman Islands. She can also be found helping out at Open Water Swimming events on Island – in fact, if it’s related to swimming you can count that Jacky will be one of the first to volunteer her time. She enjoys the role of swim officiating and the opportunity it gives to watch young swimmers grow in confidence and ability to become outstanding competitors in their chosen sport.

SOURCE: http://www.ciasa.ky/NewsShow.jsp?&id=394010&team=reczzciasa
IMAGE: Cayman Islands CARIFTA swim team