By BRENT STUBBS

Tribune Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Port-of-Spain: Team Bahamas' full contingent of swimmers and track and field athletes have arrived in Trinidad & Tobago and are settling in at their respective Games Villages in preparation for the 2025 CARIFTA Games.

The 78-member track and field team arrived yesterday on their chartered flight, a day after the swim team made their touchdown on separate Bahamasair charted flights. Additionally, another chartered flight brought in a contingent of parents, family members and a Junkanoo group.

At their first practice at the National Swim Complex, head coach Travano McPhee said it's all about getting acclimatized to their new home away from home for the five days in Trinidad.

"The kids look excellent, getting comfortable with the starts, the turns and the finish, getting comfortable with their environment," McPhee said. "Everyone was on point this morning.

"We talked in and right away, the team captains organized a cheer to let Trinidad know we are here. The swimmers look good. We have one more day of practice tomorrow (Friday) and we will get a little more familiar with the facilities and then come out to compete on Saturday."

Assistant coach Bernard Newbold said the track and field team has settled in at the Radisson Hotel and will head to the Hasely Crawford National Stadium this morning for their first practice session.

"We arrived around midday [Thursday], got through immigration and into our hotel where we had a light shake out,' Newbold said. "We will head out to the track tomorrow morning to get a shake out and check out the track."

"We had a very smooth process since we got here. The accreditation went very well and our entry process was done. Any issues that we had, they were able to resolve them very quickly, so we are satisfied."

With this being the first time that both swimming and track and field will take place on the same island at the same time, officials have decided to combine the opening ceremonies, scheduled for 3 pm on Friday at the Hasely Crawford National Stadium.

However, both sports will separate to begin their competition on Saturday at 9am. While track and field will be concluded on Monday night, swimming will end on Tuesday and then the open water swim competition will take place on Wednesday morning.