The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Coach Laszlo Borbely said he was pleased with the experience that Team Bahamas gained in the Carifta Water Polo Championships.

He said they have a very young team which ended up in fourth place out of four teams at the event in Jamaica over the Easter holiday weekend.

Borbely said the Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF) should be commended for giving the team the opportunity to compete.

"The team did well but it was stiff competition," Borbely said. "Everybody worked hard and they performed very well. Our inexperience got the best of us but everybody knows that we are going to get better and better until we bring home the Carifta gold."

Managed by Melanie Knowles with chaperone Brenda Wert, Team Bahamas lost 14-6 to Curacao in the third playoffs at the national stadium pool. Trinidad & Tobago took the gold by defeating host Jamaica 25-3.

The new team was made up of Cedric Bowe, Jonathan Albury, Ervano Brown, Stearlin Lewis, Aaron Carey, Joel Albury, Marcel Ingraham, Llando Chea, Saequan Miller, Nathan Wert, Joshua Knowles and Loron Bain.

"We did a good accomplishment. We worked as hard as we could," said team captain Jonathan Albury, who competed with the team for the third consecutive year.

Compared to the two previous teams, he said, Albury said they were smaller in size. "We did the best that we could do. We worked very hard."

With the focus now on the Carifta Swimming Championships this weekend at Betty Kelly Kenning Aquatic Centre, 14-year-old Albury had some advice for Team Bahamas. "I wish them good luck in their competition."

Albury's younger brother, Joel, also competed on the team for the third time. "I guess we could have done better but we did our best," he said. "We did well. We could have done better but we did the best that we could have."

Like his brother, Joel also advised the team to "go out there and just do your best."

On Tuesday, each water polo team member received a gift bag from Royal Bank of Canada during a special reception.