Before many people are even out of bed the young swimmers of the Bermuda National Swimming Team can be found perfecting their style and strengthening their endurance in the water at the Saltus School outdoor swimming pool.

It has to be particularly bad weather - such as thunder and lightning - for the training sessions to be called off. Otherwise, rain or shine, the swimmers are hard at work showing the dedication needed to compete at an international level.

National team coach Richard Goodwin and assistant Ben Smith believe a number of the team heading to the Carifta Games will secure medals and high placings, last time around it was four medals and a commendable halfway table finish for the team against far larger countries and squads.

One obstacle remains to be dealt with before the competition starts, and that is getting the team accustomed to swimming in a full-size Olympic Pool.

Bermuda does not have such a facility. The Saltus pool is only 25 metres. If there is one thing that the two coaches would most like to see on the Island it would be an Olympic-size pool. Other countries have them and international competitions are always held in the 50-metre pools. This presents a challenge for swimmers who only ever train in the half-size version and have to 'convert' to swimming in a fill-size pool and not looking for a wall to turn around against at the 25-metre point.

In order to allow the Bermuda swimmers to do this, the team has to travel to competitions a number of days in advance purely to allow the athletes to get to grips with swimming in unbroken 50-metre stretches, as they will be required to do in the actual competition. It means an added cost to the team, one of the arguments that might persuade the powers-that-be to invest in such a facility for the Island.

Nevertheless, the Bermuda swimmers have shown they can cope with the unusual pre-competition routine.

"We won four medals last year at Carifta and placed eighth out of 14, despite being one of the smallest teams and therefore it being more difficult to get the points. The fact that we could finish in the middle of the table shows the quality of the swimmers that we produce," said coach Goodwin.

The swimmers have more than just a high level of competence in the pool. There is a high degree of academic ability throughout the team.

Goodwin explains: "This is not your usual bunch of teenagers. They are a special crew and they are all scholars. We make sure that they come to us with their grades."

Studies in North America have shown that competitive swimmers are usually amongst the highest performing students in terms of grades.

"This is a detailed orientated sport and that leads into academics."

The Saltus Pool is kept at a temperature of around 78 to 82 degrees. The swimmers work on their technique, stamina, breathing, turns, and other aspects of the discipline. Covering 6,000 metres or more in a session is fairly normal and the distance swum in a morning session can get up as high as 10,000m (6.2 miles).

This year 14 swimmers are going to the Carifta Games, competing across seven age categories, an impressive number of qualifiers from a national set-up of around 30.

A lifetime of involvement in the sport allows Smith and Goodwin to pass on valuable insight to the swimmers. Smith was a team captain for Springfield College in Massachusetts, while Goodwin has now clocked up nine years at the helm of the national team.

Both are encouraged by the level of performance the Bermuda swimmers are achieving, but recognise that if there was more funding and an Olympic-size pool, the likelihood is the Island would further enhance its reputation on the international swimming scene. Bermuda's US-based Roy Allan Burch is currently seeking to compete in this year's Beijing Olympics at 50m and 100m freestyle.

"We build them up to the stage where they go to prep school or university and that is where they flourish. We have built them up to get there. The fact that we have swimmers on the world stage is a credit to the athletes and the programme," said Smith.

Goodwin added: "We can prepare the foundations and then they go away to a programme that can offer everything. We wish that we could do more but we have limited facilities."