By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Head coach Laszlo Borbely said Team Bahamas made sure they didn’t leave any hardware in Kingston, Jamaica, as they won all three divisional gold medals and carted off all of the individual awards in their dominating performances at the CARIFTA Water Polo Championship.

When they returned home Monday night, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Michael Pintard assured them that they will be rewarded very soon as the government, in conjunction with the Bahamas Swimming Federation, is looking at the possibility of getting them their own facilities to train in.

Pintard, welcoming the team home at the Lynden Pindling International Airport, said when he congratulated them in the House of Assembly, the island nation’s policy makers were extremely pleased with their performances. But he told them that the excitement pales in comparison to the support from their family and friends, who were outside of the arrival lounge where they waited with the junkanoo music.

Yesterday, the team was in the House of Assembly for an official government recognition. “We are in your corner. We clearly understand that water polo needs additional facilities,” Pintard told the team. “So we are prepared to work with the federation, parents and your support team, those of you that are from other islands originally, we believe that it is important for us to have a build out of additional facilities, not just in New Providence, but outside of New Providence.

“The Grand Bahama Port Authority is partnering with the government. We are looking to build a 50-metre pool in Grand Bahama. We will work closely with your federation and we make a commitment that we will work with you, your parents and your support team so that we can provide just one part of what you need so that you can continue to excel.”

The announcement was sweet music in the ears of the team that comprised of three squads that captured the under-14, under-16 and under-19 championship titles at the Kingston National Stadium on Sunday.

It started with the under-14 team winning their first title with a 16-2 rout over Jamaica.

The under-16 followed as they repeated as champions with a 17-3 clobbering of the Reggae Boyz. It climaxed with the under-19 securing a 13-10 decision over Jamaica.

In the end, the Bahamas also captured six individual awards as Oliver Roberts won the under-14 most valuable player and Jayden Seymour was the best goalie. Gabriel Sastre was the under-16 MVP and Aiden Johnson was the best goalie.

Saequan Miller was the under-19 MVP and Aiden Johnson was again the best goalie. “The younger team, under-14 and under-16, didn’t have any competition,” said Borbely. “They went into the finals and they put on some very good performances. The 19-year-old team had some problems in the beginning in the preliminaries, but once we got to the semis, we had one goal that changed everything and we went into a fighting mode.

“When we played Jamaica for the gold, I told them to just hang on, hang on. Keep them close and not let them get too far away from you. By the third quarter, we had their number.

“By the fourth quarter, we had three goals ahead of them and they couldn’t catch us.”

Borbely said the team won everything and “there wasn’t anything else to bring home,” so he was thrilled with their performances.

Said Saequan Miller, the veteran member of the under-19 team: “We had our disadvantages, but we still battled through them,” he said. “We went into the water and we played to the best of our abilities. Our coaches strategised us as much as they could and we applied what we learn and now we’re the champions.”

At 18 years of age and in his final year on the team, Miller said as the players get older, they can only continue to get better.

The other members of the under-19 team were Gabriel Sastre, Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield, Loron Bain, Turnquest, Joshua Knowles, Adonis Sasso, Sean Knowles, Johnathon Demeritte, Adrian Burrows, Michael Moore, Kurdero Major and Kyrdaz Major.

“It was unexpected. We had a very small squad to start off the games with and we were relying on the under-16 team to support us,” said Carl Illing, the coach of the under-19 team. “In the semi-final, we got by Barbados to get into the gold medal as we avenged our loss in the preliminaries.

“When we went to the final, we had a deeper bench, we played better as a team. Jamaica had better individual players, but as a team, the Bahamas came out on top. I was very proud of how well they played together.”

Sastre, the 15-year-old Queen’s College student and leader of the under-16 team, said they played to the best of their abilities.

“Everyone put forth their best effort that they could and I can gladly say that with all of the vigorous training that we’ve had from our coaches, it actually played out with us coming back with gold in all three categories, so I am very proud of our performances,” said Sastre, a three-year member of the team.

“We are a very strong team. We are not as big as the other teams, but we played to the best of our abilities and that everyone used everything they could, including our stamina and our strength and that was what helped us to win.”

Joining Sastre on the under-16 team were Gabriel Encinar, Thomas Illing, Nicholas Wallace-Whitfield, Damian Gomez, Jelani Grant, Alex Turnquest, Thor Sasso, Jahkai Gray, Liam Mills, Mataeo Ferguson, Aidan Johnson and Gabriel Encinar.

And Oliver Roberts, a 14-year-old student of St Andrew’s School, said their under-14 team did extremely well.

“I was very proud of my team,” he stated. “We are 13 very dedicated athletes. We trained very hard and we trained harder than ever for these games and obviously the results showed. This is my second national team, so I was very pleased to be the captain and to lead us to victory.”

The other members who played with Roberts were Dominic Beneby, Dominic Demeritte, Atuwan McKenzie, Remington Minnins, Akeil Smith, Jayden Fernander, Skyler Dean, Jayden Seymour, Madisson Deveaux, Kaitlyn Williams, Wesley Ingraham and Joshua Gibson.

“It was so surprising how well we played,” said Krisztian Keleman, the coach of the under-14 team. “With the under-14 and under-16 teams, there was no question who will win the gold. The under-19 was tougher, but the players did very well and we did the little things to win all three titles.”

Brenna Turnquest served as the manager of the team. A number of parents and family numbers also travelled with the team.

Federation president Algernon Cargill also congratulated the team and indicated that they are excited with the team’s performance and they are looking forward to the team going to Trinidad & Tobago next year to defend the three titles.