A NUMBER of Bathurst swimmers will head to Sydney this weekend for the NSW State Age Short Course Championships as the winter season comes to an end.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Brandon Fraser will line up in the 15 years boys’ 50 metre and 100m freestyle as well as the 100m and 200m breaststroke.
Thomas Geyer will compete in the 14 years boys’ 100m and 200m breaststroke, while Zara Grout takes her place in the 10 years and under girls’ 50m breaststroke.
Bathurst Amateur Swimming Club coach Leonard Grout says some top 10 results would be a good outcome for the club.
“There are a lot of talented kids in Bathurst at the moment and plenty of them have the potential to reach that sort of level where they are competing for medals at state titles,” he said.
“I think at the moment top 10 results are what we’re looking at.
“Doing morning sessions in terms of training is something we are going to start working on shortly.”
With the summer season starting next week, Grout is hopeful that a change in schedules will be able to bring out a little extra from the current crop of juniors.
“In mid-January we have the Summer State Age titles and that’s something we want to aim for,” he said.
“We want to change training around a bit and develop in tune with the Sydney clubs who dominate those sort of meets.”
In order to do that, according to Grout, the workload will need to change somewhat.
“We’ll start conducting morning sessions in the first week of September from Monday to Thursday,” he explained.
“For kids of around 10 to 12 years of age, four to five sessions a week is ideal, so doing one in the morning and afternoon isn’t really necessary.
“But once you get into the higher age brackets and for talented kids like Thomas Geyer and Zac Telfser, they need a lot more – five kilometres per day, ideally, if they want to begin making the podium at state level.
“There are so many kids here with the potential to make it a long way; we’d love to see them getting more involved. Anyone who wants to come down and give it a go can do so every afternoon from 5pm at the Aquatic Centre.
“Morning sessions benefit swimmers who want to keep their afternoons free for schoolwork and other sports, prefer less people in the pool and want more time with the coach to improve their stroke and fitness.”
