For the first time since the 2016 World Short Course Championships, Warriors Swimming head coach Jacqueline Beckford-Henriques will lead team Jamaica, this time at the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, in Irvine, California. 

The four-day event – running from August 12-15 - will mark the first running of the Championships since 2018. The 2019 OUA Men's Swimming Coach of the Year and 2022 Imprint Warriors Coach of the Year, feels the pride that guiding the next generation of Jamaican swimmers brings. 

"These events take me back," Beckford-Henriques mentioned. "When working with the Jamaican team, the numbers are much smaller, but I enjoy it because it gives you the chance to give individual attention to the swimmers." 

Beckford-Henriques will lead a Jamaican side with four swimmers - who will compete in 14 scheduled events – alongside swimmers from 17 other nations. She will guide them through an event in which qualifying times are everything, with World Championships and the Summer Olympics waiting in the wings.  

"The best part this time around will be coaching on a world-class deck with swimmers who haven't had a lot of exposure to a large stage, and having the opportunity to guide them and use my experience to make their journey not as overwhelming. 

Beckford-Henriques' experience in advising swimmers at the national level is immense. First representing Jamaica internationally in a coaching role back in 1984, she spent over 30 years as the founder and coach of Tornadoes Swim Club in Kingston, Jamaica. 

She spent nearly 20 years with the Jamaican National team. Her rich expertise in developing Jamaica's top talent, led to her coaching the National team at three Olympic Games in 2000, 2004, and 2008. 

"Early on, I worked with a president for the Aquatic Sports Association of Jamaica (ASAJ), who was very-forward thinking and was willing to work with ideas that we both had. The goal was to grow Jamaican swimming. My club grew to become the number one club in Jamaica." 

Beckford-Henriques takes these opportunities to enrich the skillset of those she's coaching, and additionally, to better her own approach as she comes back to Waterloo for her 11th season as head coach. 

"That's one of the great parts for me, is that I will be with the best of the best in the world. My own learning curve goes up, which I will bring back to my work with the Warriors." 

Join us in cheering on Beckford-Henriques and Jamaica next week, in what promises to be an enthralling meet. 

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