On Wednesday, April 8, the young aquatics athletes of Team Saint Lucia touched back down at Port Castries, welcomed by a raucous, heartfelt heroes’ welcome that capped off a history-making performance at the 2025 CARIFTA Aquatics Championships hosted in Martinique. Competing at the Pierre Samot Community Aquatic Centre, the team delivered a stunning new national record, clinching a total of 14 medals across age categories — one more than the 13 medals earned at the 2024 edition of the regional meet.
Local supporters and senior government officials gathered at the port to cheer on the returning competitors, and celebration quickly turned to reflection at an official post-arrival press conference. Dr. Uralise Delaire, Permanent Secretary in Saint Lucia’s Ministry of Youth Development and Sports, opened remarks by extending sincere gratitude to the athletes, highlighting their relentless work ethic, unwavering commitment to the sport, and exemplary sportsmanship throughout the 10-day competition.
“You have not only put Saint Lucia firmly on the regional aquatics map, but you have cemented our reputation as a standout competitor in the Caribbean,” Dr. Delaire told the team. “I want to congratulate each of you for your dedication, your resilience, and your discipline that made this historic result possible.”
One of the meet’s standout stars was 12-year-old Sapphire Parks, who successfully defended her 11-12 girls’ age division title, capping an incredible meet that grew her career medal count from eight to 10 total. Over the course of the competition, Parks claimed gold in the 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:21.23 and silver in the 200m backstroke in 2:38.13. Her total haul for the 2025 championships ended at five gold, four silver, and one bronze, earning 88 overall points to lead the team’s individual rankings.
Clivus Jules, the Ministry’s Director of Sports, shared a personal anecdote that illustrated the far-reaching impact of the team’s success beyond the medal table. “I had a whole house full of people gathered to watch the competition livestream, and my own kids were so inspired that my six-year-old has already asked to start swimming lessons,” Jules told the room. “You have done more for the growth of this sport than any policy or program could achieve in a decade — your work is already paying off for the next generation.”
Gleaming with visible pride, Paula James, President of the Saint Lucia Aquatics Federation, called the team’s performance “phenomenal,” saying the personal effort she and other organizers put into the season paled in comparison to what the young athletes delivered for the nation. “For me, this weekend is all pride and joy,” James said. “What you accomplished for Saint Lucia is beyond anything I could have hoped for.”
What makes the team’s historic achievement even more notable is the context in which it was earned: for years, Saint Lucia’s competitive swimmers have trained exclusively in a 25-meter pool, while CARIFTA and other elite regional meets are almost always held in a standard 50-meter Olympic-length pool. Even with this comparative disadvantage, the team has continued to outperform expectations year after year.
But that training limitation is set to change in the coming years: work has already broken ground on a new National Aquatics Centre in Beausejour, located in close proximity to the existing Daren Sammy Cricket Ground, Beausejour Indoor Facility and National Tennis Centre. The Olympic-sized 50-meter pool for the new facility has already been delivered to the island, filling a gap that has long held local aquatics back.
James noted that the purpose-built facility will be a game-changer for Saint Lucian swimming, opening new doors for future generations of competitors. “With this much-needed new home for our sport, the sky is the limit,” she said. While an official completion and opening date has not yet been announced, aquatics leaders across the country are optimistic that the new centre will elevate local competitive swimming to unprecedented new heights in the years to come.