Cayman’s first-ever water polo teams received their official kit at a presentation ceremony prior to their departure to the CARIFTA 2025 Aquatics Championships.
Families, friends and devoted supporters gathered on 28 Oct. for the ceremony, where the athletes’ received words of encouragement from both the team’s head coach, Grant Ferguson and Sports Minister Isaac Rankine.
The delegation, comprising of 25 athletes and five staff members – Grant Ferguson, Glenn Whewell, Alicia Proud, Kendra Okonski Morris, and Jonathan Reyna – are scheduled to travel to Coral Springs, Florida, on 6 Nov. for the championships.
For many of these players, this competition is the culmination of a rapid and intense development process that began with trials in September, which assessed technical skills, fitness, and teamwork among vying athletes.
Ferguson, who previously stated that this historic milestone is a “huge step forward for our programme,” is focusing the team’s goals not just on results.
“Our biggest goal is to give every Cayman player a real international experience and show how far we’ve come in such a short time. Many of our athletes only started playing water polo this year, so to have three divisions competing at CARIFTA is already a huge step forward for Cayman,” Ferguson said.
Furthermore, he said his focus remains on three areas, which are teamwork and game understanding, execution under pressure, and building the future by “using this tournament to set a standard and inspire the next group of Cayman players coming through the schools and clubs.”
He says preparation has been “solid”, with the players showing a lot of commitment within the three weekly compulsory team sessions. “It’s made a big difference having full squads training together consistently,” he said.
The squad’s training has focused on improving team systems and positioning, including off-ball movement and playing both ends of the pool along with shooting and finishing drills.
Additionally, Ferguson said they implemented efforts during preparation to build the fitness and mental fortitude necessary to handle intense tournament competition.
Prior tournament experience
Since the team’s formation in September, they have already seen the results of their hard work at the Nightmare on I-Drive Tournament in Orlando, Florida earlier this month.
Jake Fagan, 18, one of the captains of the under-19 boys’ team, said that they made “unbelievable improvements” to their defensive game at the tournament.
“Our trip to Orlando … was invaluable to the team [and] … our goal for CARIFTA is to utilize everything we’ve learnt and to hopefully come out on top. The whole team is motivated to make Cayman proud,” Fagan said.
“It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come in just one year and I’m excited to see where water polo in Cayman will go next.”
Ferguson added, “More than anything, I want our players to enjoy the experience, play with heart, and represent the Cayman Islands with pride, energy, and great sportsmanship.”
Forming the under-19 boys’ division are Jake Fagan (captain), Benjamin Coak, Jack Clark-Terrell, Patryk Plata (captain), Antwan Myles Mcfield, Luke Comley-White, Logan Collins, Ty Rhone, Jordan Cummings, Alexander Lindsay, Tye Conolly, Rylan Bennett Carter and David Bulgin.
The under-16 and under-19 girls’ teams consists of Kacey Fagan (captain), Leila Coak, Kyah Morris, Georgina Head, Valentina Campbell Gutierrez (captain), Lucrezia Scerrati, Riley Skinner, Gabriela Bowerman, Adriana Bowerman, Elizabeth Wade, Marisa Miller and Mila Vidas.
