Budding Young Trio to Revitalise WA Swimming Prospects

There are exciting times ahead for WA swimming after the strong performances of WAIS trio Blair Evans, Adelaide Hart and Brianna Throssell at the 2010 State Open Swimming Championships which were held at Perth’s Challenge Stadium last week.

This budding young trio are revitalising WA swimming in the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics following the retirement and departure of several athletes after the 2004 and 2008 Olympiads.

Furthermore, the performances are extremely rewarding for WAIS coach Matt Magee, who coaches nine of the 15 WAIS scholarship holders. The City of Perth based coach is rapidly building a strong developmental squad.

WAIS Swimming Performance Manager Greg Hodge, was extremely pleased with the results at the State Championships.

“Seeing as the athletes were not fresh, they had several hard months of training and competition prior to this, therefore, for them to perform like this and produce such solid results is great.”

Hodge believes there are three key elements which greatly contribute to Magee’s success;

“He has a solid development program which stands as a good basis to feed kids through (a good “feeder program”). He goes the extra mile, always undertaking extra readings and gathers interstate and international coach opinions and utilises the wide support network offered to him through WAIS,” Hodge said.

Short term, there are exciting prospects for the three athletes. Given their young age, Hart and Throssell will now aim towards the Australian Age Championships in March.

Not only have they demonstrated outstanding abilities for their age group, Hodge believes they “have demonstrated they now also have the mental capacity to cope,” he said. This psychological aspect is just as important as their overall performances.

Evans’s immediate focus will be on the National Championships in March. Her excellent performances in the 100m (blitzing the resident record for this event with a new time of 55.61secs) and 200m events, on the weekend greatly increase her chances in her more favoured events, the 400m and 800m. Hodge explains “long distance swimmers don’t have as much speed; therefore by improving her speed she will improve her overall performances in the 400m and 800m events.”

Similarly, Evan’s decision to not wear the new Speedo LZR Racer Suit on the weekend can only improve her chances at nationals.

Prior to the nationals; Evans, Hart and Throssell will compete in the Summer Sensation WA competition, held from February 19 – 21. The trio will then enter a ‘taper period’ which consists of a mental re-fresher in their workload and workout intensity. This is to ensure they are at their peak for their National events.

– Emily Raynor