Nederpelt and Tucker Named in Aus A Team
Swimming Australia will send a 15-strong Australia ‘A’ Team to Vancouver and Victoria Island in July and August to take on Canada and France across two meets designed to give more athletes vital international experience.
Two Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes will travel with the team after Travis Nederpelt and Craig Tucker were selected following solid performances at the recent National Championships in Sydney.
The team, which will include world championship rookies from last year Matt Abood, Merindah Dingjan, Ellen Fullerton, Lachlan Staples and Olympians Sally Foster, Kirk Palmer and WAIS athlete Travis Nederpelt, will compete at the Canadian Summer Nationals before taking on the French and Canada in a three-way duel on Victoria Island.
Swimming Australia Head Coach Leigh Nugent says the idea of the team is to limit the potential of any Telstra Dolphins slipping through the net in the build up to London 2012.
“This was set up to try and give those swimmers who just missed out on the team an opportunity to prepare and race over the same time frame that the senior team will be preparing over,” said Nugent.
“So if they break into the world championship team next year, it won’t be a foreign experience for them preparing over winter for a long course meet in July or August.”
A new concept on the Swimming Australian touring calendar, the 15-strong Australia ‘A’ Team now means more than 200 Australian swimmers will get the chance to train and race overseas in 2010.
“This year is the first time we’ve introduced this Australia ‘A’ concept and it really has taken the place of the West Coast tour – with regard to the 16 or so athletes that we used to take there.
“We found that the West Coast tour was too early in their preparation. Athletes weren’t really in their peak condition and even though it was a worthwhile experience, we feel this is a better option and fits more with the way that we prepare for major events.
To earn selection on the ‘A’ Team, swimmers had to meet qualifying standards during the recent Australian Championships and Nugent says if they are swimming fast enough to be poised to make a senior team, we want to encourage them to do so in the future.
“This year a large number of teams will go off shore to race and there was going to be a group of athletes who were outside the age range of those teams, that were not going to get the opportunity to race.”
“We are capturing as many as we can to make sure we are well placed for London 2012 and some of these swimmers will double up onto other teams like the Oceania trip to Samoa.
The Australia ‘A’ Team will compete at the following events:
Canadian Summer Nationals,in Vancouver British Columbia 28 – 31 July 2010
Tri Nations – Australia, Canada, France in Victoria, British Columbia 5 – 6 August 2010
– Swimming Australia