Zaneta Alvaranga Takes Aim For CCCAN

Courtesy of Shayne Fairman

Central American & Caribbean junior swimmers will be in display at the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) 28th June – 2nd July, 2017 in Balmain, Couva, Trinidad. The in form Zaneta “Mariposa” Alvaranga (11 – 12 Girl) was Jamaica’s leading individual point scorer (35 points) at the 2017 CARIFTA Swimming Championships including her 50m Butterfly gold medal and championship record breaking swim. The Burger King Jamaica sponsored swimmer is becoming a household name and age group swimmers all around the world have begun to take notice.

Zaneta was recently featured in Swim Swam for some outstanding performances. Alvaranga’s father/coach knows very well that his swimmer has now become a target. In her first official international for Jamaica, Zaneta returned from the regional CARIFTA Championships with four (4) individual medals and left her name etched in the CARIFTA record books three (3) times.

Zaneta has broken countless records locally and in 2015 she travelled to the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago in search of higher level competition. There Zaneta became the first 9 – 10 Jamaican girl to dip under 33 seconds in the 50m Butterfly. She swam a blistering 31.35 battering the then T & T national age group record 32.50. This was an early indicator that Butterfly has chosen Zaneta despite her being too young to specialize. The gap between her 50m Freestyle time (27.58) and her 50m butterfly time (28.95) has narrowed significantly. With a 28.95 butterfly Zaneta can easily win the freestyle event for 11 – 12 girls in Jamaica with her swimming Butterfly.  

Young Alvaranga returned from CARIFTA decorated and was on a reduced training programme until a few weeks ago her preparation for CCCAN began. “Zaneta is still on a somewhat reduced training session due to lane jostling with some local coaches and end of year exam preparations but should fare well by CCCAN” explained Rory Alvaranga her father and head coach.

“Zaneta is entered in eight (8) individual events at CCCAN and if all the technical areas of her race game are executed correctly she will bring Jamaica some valuable points” outlined her coach. When asked of CCCAN predictions Coach Alvaranga chided, “I have not set any goals for Zaneta at CCCAN but she is always competing against herself to improve her times.”

Zaneta expressed “I feel a little nervous but believe I should do well”. Fater a joke that nervousness should be a thing of the past seeing how she delivered at CARIFTA to which Zaneta replied, “I am always a little nervous before a race as I am always worried about improving my times”.

Though she is the CARIFTA 50m Butterfly champion, all that has been put to the past. Coach Alvaranga has hardly been heard from since the CARIFTA, but in two local swim meets where Zaneta dipped below the 1:08.00 mark in the 100m Butterfly, have signaled that he is gunning for the 1:07.00 barrier in the future. “For me, my duty is to ensure Zaneta’s long term athlete development is foremost. I believe in the Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvements and apply this business principle to my swim programme. It is a wonderful feeling to coach Zaneta and all my other swimmers and see them turning out PB’s, breaking meet and national age group records meet after meet. Coach Torey my young assistant is a shrewd coach and have also contributed a lot to the swimmers’ success”.