Beautiful Huxley hopes to be St Lucia's life saver

NEW DELHI: You might want to drown in her deep radiant eyes. You might even want to drown, simply drown, and wait for her to save you. But unfortunately, Siona Huxley is no more a life guard.
The 17-year-old got bored of being a life-saver day-in and day-out in St. Lucia. Perhaps too many vain men drowning on the slightest pretext must have put her off.
"I got into swimming because I wanted to be a life guard.Then when I entered the competition I just enjoyed it so I stayed in it," said Huxley, who will be representing St Lucia in 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 50m freestyle and100 butterfly.
"When I was young, I wanted to do swimming because I watched Bay Watch a lot. But I never really got far with it. I failed the endurance test and I knew I had to get better at swimming if I had to pass the test.
I started training, I passed the test, but I didn't take it up professionally because I got bored of it," she said.
"My duties involved saving people from drowning in the sea or in the pool or and treating the injured.
Though Huxley had participated in the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune two years ago, this is her first Commonwealth Games.
"She was very young then and it was not necessarily her best period. But she did very well although she didn't get any medals. So she's familiar with the country," said Jamie Peterkin, St.Lucias swimming coach, about her ward who has won the double Junior Sportswoman of the Year 2008-09 back home.
"She's matured a lot and more experienced as an athlete now. She draws strengths from experiences. She can work a lot more on her body to make it strong outside the pool. I'm working on that aspect," said the coach.
In the Carribean, Huxley has been a regional champion in two 50m fly races this summer and a silver medallist in backstroke. She was the only one to represent St. Lucia in Youth Olympics this year. "Yeah, she is doing well. But she is still very young and has a long way to go," said Peterkin. "A lot of swimmers don't peak until their mid-20s and if she wants to continue then in another four to five years she can be extremely fast.