Over the past couple of years, the Union Americana De Natacion has expressed interest in having a Pan American Junior meet. A number of high level meets have been adopted at the junior level. Among those meets are Junior Worlds, Junior Euros, Junior CG’s, Asian Youth Games, Youth Olympics, and Junior Pan Pacs.
Bill Hogan, as a member of the UANA technical committee, has pushed for the creation of a Pan Am Junior meet. Adding another international meet would give some of the world’s top junior talent another chance to compete against one another. The committee has discussed establishing this event, but it hasn’t been set in motion yet.
Hogan is interested in continuing the Pan American Sport Festival, possibly making it a bi-annual event for Pan Am juniors. The festival served as a meet for young swimmers to prepare for the Pan American Games in Toronto. 16-18 year old swimmers competed at the event.
Given the large amount of interest in the festival, he feels it would be beneficial to move forward with it.
“As we know, there is still no UANA Junior Pan American swimming competition in the Americas, and I feel we would be missing a great opportunity if we didn’t establish a UANA Junior Swimming competition going forward,” Said Hogan. “My suggestion is that having seen the interest shown by 30 UANA federations that attended this event in Mexico this year, it would now be an excellent opportunity to build on the success of this Sport Festival to establish it as a continuing event, especially for the swimming discipline in the Americas.”
Adding another international meet would bring more excitement as the world’s top junior talent compete against one another. As the next generation of swimming continues to rise, it would also give junior swimmers additional opportunities to represent their countries on an international stage. Hogan’s push towards a Pan American Junior meet could help swimmers further develop into elite athletes.