BARBADOS’ DARLING of the pool is heading to Florida.
Backstroke specialist and former Youth Olympic Games swimmer Lee-Ann Rose will be taking her talents to the United States after she was offered an athletic and academic scholarship to attend Florida Southern College.
The NCAA Division II school recruited Rose following her stint at the Florida Gators’ international training camp last year where she impressed the programme’s director and Barbados’ former Olympian Leah Martindale-Stancil.
The elite intensive camp, which annually attracts some of the best swimmers from across the world, has featured such names as American multi-Olympic gold medallist Ryan Lochte, Barbadian Olympian Bradley Ally and Bahamian brothers Shaune and Brett Fraser.
Three other senior national swimers – Amara Gibbs, Zabrina Holder and Kent Mullins – accompanied Rose to the camp and benefited from the personal attention to technique from the team of coaches.
Despite her relatively diminutive stature, the 18-year-old Queen’s College student is a multi-medallist at the local, CARIFTA, and Central American and Caribbean Federation Swimming Championships.
Rose, who currently holds the women open national records in the 100 and 200 metres backstroke events, also represented Barbados at the Central American and Caribbean Games before becoming the country’s first qualifier and participant at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
The Titans Aquatic Club member is set to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business management at Florida Southern. (JM/PR)
