This year’s athletic season, and swimming in particular, has prompted some confusion amongst our community. “What national competition are you talking about NOW?” In an effort to clear up some of the confusion, the following is an explanation:
MEP – Student Sports Games
Every year, since 2014, Futuro Verde has participated in the Student Games organized by the Ministry of Education which is overseen by the Costa Rican Sports Commission (ICODER). We have won medals in swimming at the National level in both individual and relay events since we first entered these games. In 2016, after winning a gold medal in her individual event, Emma Garcia was invited by ICODER to join a selection of Student Games winners at the Central American Student Games in El Salvador. This year’s national events for primary and secondary took place in June with gold and silver medals. Emma Garcia won gold medals in both the 50 meter breaststroke and freestyle, the relay team in Category B (Elana Jiménez, Emma Garcia, Maya Salazar, and Samantha Fonseca) won silver medals in two relays, and our combined relay team in Category A (Leandro Salazar, Kai MacKenzie, Quetzal Ramírez, and Solana Chiaverini) won gold!
ICODER National Sports Games
This year, several of Futuro Verde’s more senior swimmers were invited to join the team of the district of Nicoya (ANANI) to participate with them in the National Games, also overseen by ICODER. These games include a wide array of sports and the finals take place in June and July. Accompanied by our Athletic Director, our swimmers participated in two Eliminatory competitions, with only the top 8 swimmers qualifying in each event. The final for swimming will take place in Cartago from July 9-12th. Four of Futuro Verde’s swimmers qualified for the finals: Sebastian Bravo, Fiona Jiménez, Elana Jiménez, and Emma Garcia. (Soleil Michaud qualified as a substitute). Fingers crossed for our swimmers in this prestigious event!
FECONA National Championship
As if the above weren’t enough, four of Futuro Verde’s swimmers, Soleil Michaud, Fiona Jiménez, Elana Jiménez, and Emma Garcia, also became “federated” swimmers with the swim club “El Milenio” in Escazu and had the opportunity to participate in the nationally recognized competitions associated with FECONA (National Federation of Swimming). During the course of the season, they competed in swim competitions which took place around the country providing the swimmers with the opportunity to post official times with FECONA. Swimmers who achieved times qualifying them in Mark A or B were invited to participate in the National Championship which took place in Cartago in May. All four Futuro Verde swimmers qualified to compete in the Championship and Fiona won the bronze medal in the 50 meter breaststroke event.
The sports program at Futuro Verde, often under-resourced and without adequate training facilities, has nevertheless offered our students a base from which they have sprung to achieve national success. Enormous credit for this success is shared by all involved – our dedicated coaches, our strong and resilient athletes, our committed parents and the Futuro Verde school philosophical commitment to the development of holistic student-athletes. We look forward to seeing an even larger group of Futuro Verde athletes in more sports participate in national events in the future!
