Dominican Republic on it's Way to the Top

Previously unknown to rowing, the Dominican Republic recently put forward a very promising team at the Central American and Caribbean Games held on Lake Coatepeque in El Salvador.

This first milestone in the efforts to bring the Dominican Republic to International competition level was reached thanks to the work of FISA Development Coach for Central America and the Caribbean – Sebastian Tula.

Tula achieved very positive results by bringing essentially non rowers to an International level in less than three months. His team was entered in 16 out of the 18 boat classes raced in El Salvador.

The Argentinean coach started off his mission last August with a group of 25 rowers including 6 female rowers. Equipped with boats provided through FISA’s  ?Rowing in a box? programme, the athletes set off to follow a high level training plan established by Ricardo Ibarra, FISA’s Development Consultant for Latin America. The athletes also received essential advice on issues such as nutrition and health.

?Sebastian Tula’s work with the Dominican Republic is short of a miracle,? said FISA continental representative for North America Eduardo Palomo in an article published after the games. ?Rowers with less than three months were concentrated at Lake Coatepeque and they showed a great deal of desire and potential for the future.?

The Central and Caribbean games were the first opportunity for the Dominican Republic to compete on a regional level. They will have few other chances to test their strengths against their regional opponents during the coming months. This was therefore a huge opportunity to compete at such a level before reaching the final objective – the Pan American games next year.