by MIKE CUMMINS LAST YEAR the Grenada track and field team accumulated more golds at CARIFTA than Barbados. Last weekend, Samantha La Qua had little trouble beating some of the island's best 13-14 swimmers. Already the signs are there that with good coaching the Isle of Spice will be a force to reckon with in the not too distant future. The man who has been entrusted with this assignment is the former manager of the Barbados Aquatic Centre, David Farmer. The holder of a one-year diploma sponsored by the Commonwealth Sports which involved training swimmers in Canada, Farmer is making his contribution without the aid of a sophisticated swimming pool and staff at his disposal. However, what he does have is a programme to develop swimming in Grenada and some willing participants in a 25-metre facility. "I have been given free rein by GASA (The Grenada Amateur Swimming Association), so I think Grenada is on track to making a strong presence at CARIFTA next year," says the 53-year-old coach. Still looking boyish and youthful, the former coach of Stingrays Swim Club is now one of the two local trainers on the island. "I used to go to Grenada to work with the swimmers and offer suggestions. Then their swimmers would come up (to Barbados) every six months to get experience," he told the DAILY NATION. "I am one of the two national coaches there and act as an advisor to GASA," he continued. While he admits that Barbados will be "a while yet ahead of Grenada", Farmer believes the work he is doing with the Grenfin Swim Club is bearing fruit. Already he has CARIFTA medallist La Qua and Tuesday Watts who had to miss the Cave Shepherd and Co. Ltd, Short Course Championships because she was attending a special training camp in Puerto Rico. Impressive swimmer Of Grenada's most impressive swimmer, the five-foot eight-inch coach told the DAILY NATION: "Tuesday is a goal oriented person who trains very hard". Watts is one of the residents offered special schooling in Barbados after Hurricane Ivan and has benefited from the training given at the Aquatic Centre, Wildey. Coach Farmer says that he is beginning to see the fruits from the programme he has instituted. This programme has reached out to the wider community which recently conducted a two-week talent search bringing in the more talented swimmers from all levels of the society. While he sees a regular 30 swimmers weekly, Farmer reckons that there are about 50 others on the periphery. Renewable contract Better known for his epic battles with former national swimmer Ronald Burke while a student of Harrison College, Farmer, who left the Aquatic Centre in 2002, has a three-year renewable contract with his employer. Though he has been offered another one by another OECS entity, the 160-pound coach has opted to stay. "I like where I am and I am enjoying the challenge," he told the DAILY NATION. This challenge is the shift he made from being an administrator of a sporting facility to the administrator (principal) of the 270-member Westmoreland School in St George's, Grenada. Farmer, who received part of his tertiary education at Townson University, Maryland, USA, has had the benefit of training some of the island's best in Shawn Clarke, Martyn Forde and Bradley Aly. Now his days are spent teaching academics in an institution which has now had its roof restored after Hurricane Ivan had flattened the building. For four traumatic hours during Ivan, Farmer battled the fury of the killer hurricane and said he was lucky to be in a house on a part of the island sheltered by a hill, but would never like to live through that experience again. "For four hours I feared for my life. Seeing 40-foot containers being blown through the air and pieces of galvanise like flying missiles floating through the air is not something I would like to experience again," he said. Reprinted from nationnews.com