SOUTHPORT SWIMMERS READY FOR SUMMER'S BIG TEST
A group of young British swimmers living and training in
Australia will be able to put the good work of the past eight
months to the test when they face the pinnacles of their swimming
season over the next few weeks.
Nine teenagers based at British Swimming's Offshore Centre
at the The Southport School in Queensland have returned to
the UK following three arduous but rewarding terms of training
coupled with academic work.
Five of the Southport group will be in action next week at
the European Junior Championships in Mallorca, where Britain
will be represented by a squad of 32, before they return to
Sheffield for the ASA National and Youth Championships later
in July.
Meanwhile, the oldest of the Southport group in Chris Alderton
(18) of Wear Valley successfully makes the transition to the
senior European Championships (50m) after winning a bronze
medal at the junior event last summer in the 1500m Freestyle.
It's an exciting time for the group who have been under the
guidance of former Portsmouth Northsea coach Chris Nesbit
over the past year and this summer's events will be used to
measure their development during that time.
Adam Brown (Hatfield), Daniel Coombs (Gallica, Lancashire),
David Waslin (Kingston on Hull), Grant Turner (Tigersharks,
Swindon) and Marco Loughran (Guildford City) will compete
in Mallorca from 5th to 9th July as part of a strong British
contingent.
And Nesbit will be also be there to help guide the swimmers
through what he believes is arguably the strongest youth competition
in the world.
"I'm looking forward to seeing the swimmers in action
in Mallorca," said Nesbit. "It has to be one of
the best youth competitions in the world and always has a
great atmosphere.
"It's a good stepping-stone to senior competitions as
history show's us that Europe's best swimmers have been there
at the European Juniors on the way through the system."
This summer's European events follow an impressive Australian
Age Nationals in Sydney earlier this year where the British
swimmers picked up a number of medals.
"The boys had a great championships with four gold medals,
two silver and two bronze medals thanks to Alderton, Loughran
and Chris Fox (Wolverhampton)," explained Nesbit. "But
performances from the all the boys, including Jamie Broom
(Derventio, Derbyshire), and Richard Charlesworth (Hatfield),
were impressive.
"They really did very well considering they were competing
in the UK just days before, flew back to Australia and then
faced competition in Sydney all within a short time frame."
It's this tough scenario and the testing environments endured
that Nesbit believes will set the young athletes apart from
the rest in the years to come.
"The opportunity to attend and train at the Southport
School is a special one," Nesbit explained. "One
of the biggest skills it teaches the athletes is to look after
themselves. All the support they need is available but being
away from home teaches them to fend for themselves.
"It's ideal preparation for an international swimming
career and there can't be many systems in place around the
world that could offer this to up-and-coming talent.
"They have to contend with the pressures and strains
of long-haul travel and living within the school they rely
on each other rather than their families. They become more
self-reliant and solve problems themselves rather than someone
else doing it." The young swimmers have also been able
to learn from their senior counterparts who visited Southport
this year for the Commonwealth Games preparation camp.
For a month the Southport swimmers were able to swim with
and gain from the swimmers from the home nations and this
will be repeated next year when Southport becomes the pre-event
base ahead of the Worlds Championships in Melboune.
"It was a real benefit having the Commonwealth Games
preparation camps at Southport," said Nesbit, "as
it gave the boys something to aim at. British teams continually
use the facility for warm weather camps so they have someone
to train up to."
Nesbit sees senior squads use of Southport as integral in
developing the programme over the past year and believes it
will have a big bearing on the future as it looks to expand
and develop.
"It's been good to see the programme move on over the
past 12 months but there's still a lot of work that needs
doing. We have a great system in place at an outstanding facility
but we need to make sure we have the right people there as
well," said Nesbit.
While in Britain over the next few weeks, Nesbit will be
hoping to meet with swimmers, parents and coaches who are
interested in joining the Southport School.
"We need to make sure we continue to get talented athletes
to Southport and we're in the middle of putting people in
place for next year," said Nesbit. "We have four
places on offer for the next school year which starts in January
2007.
"We'll be holding an open day on 23rd July where swimmers,
parents and coaches can come along to a session at Loughborough
University to learn more about the school, the education system
and swimming programme in place."
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