The 2021 Swimming Victoria Performance Pathways Program is finally up and running with athletes and coaches coming together on Saturday 3 July at Melbourne Sports Centres (MSAC).
The day kicked off with the newly created State Team Shadow Squad. This squad is comprised of athletes from the Flippers, Performance and Multi-Class squads who will be in the eligible age bands for the State Teams Challenge in September, where a Victorian team will battle against other states in fast paced short course action.
The purpose of the Shadow Squad is to provide an understanding and knowledge of the structure of the State Teams competition which focuses on skills, relays and the importance of performing, interacting and travelling as a team. Since its origin in 2009, over 30 athletes have represented Victoria at this competition and gone on to National Team Selection.
Led by the appointed Head Coaches for this year’s team, Justin Bell (Surrey Park) and Sarah Scott (Northcote), the focus of the session centred around building and performing as a team. The coach’s main message was ‘every swim matters and every swimmer matters’. The athletes were then put through their paces during the main training set, which gave them the opportunity to assess how they compare with other top athletes from across the state.
In the afternoon, the Junior Talent Squad got their first taste of the Pathways Program. This squad was selected off the State Age LC Championships in March and brings the top 12- and 13-year-olds together for three sessions.
The focus of this first session was freestyle and backstroke technique, with the coaches emphasising the importance of skills. The Junior Talent Squad is led by coaches Mel Klamt (Nunawading), Lex Sendikas (MSAC) and Rachel Smart (Flyers).
As well as Mel, Rachel and Sarah taking on leadership coaching roles, over half of the coaches on pool deck assisting with the Performance Pathways Program were female. This shows a positive shift in the number of female coaches progressing into higher level coaching, which is great to see.
Well done to all the athletes involved throughout the day and thank you to all the 25 plus coaches who helped run the sessions. Also, a big thank you to MSAC for their help coordinating the facilities and to the Pathways Program apparel sponsors, Funky Trunks & Funkita for providing uniforms for all the athletes.
