There's the sports world of famous professionals that make the headlines in the daily sports sections, but then there's also the sports world of popular participation, of people who play for the fun of it or to maintain their health. These two scenes are parts of a continuum that reach toward one another in many ways.

One of Panama's great champions of participatory sports, Toto Bárcenas, passed away without a lot of media notice on December 22. He worked for 45 years at the Plaza Amador Pool and in 1993 founded the Club de Natacion Merlines Negros de la Tercera Edad, Panama's first senior citizen's swimming team. Later the team changed its name to Club de Natacion Master Pioneros de Panama. He was the team's coach until the day he died, leading it to many first place performances at national and international meets.

Over the years Bárcenas swam for and coached swimmers for Panamanian teams in games abroad. He founded and coached a water polo team. He was a participant in and organizer of a number of long-distance ocean swimming events, including the Swim Around Colon, the races from Paitilla to Las Bovedas and the swims from Taboguilla to Panama Viejo. He won his age category in the Swim Around Colon, which now attracts participants from all over the region, three years in a row, from 1994 through 1996. In 2000, he swam two different long distance races on consecutive days.

His team continues to train and will continue to compete. Eventually they will find a new coach on a longer term basis. But Toto Bárcenas will never be replaced.