Swimming training camp

Press, 12 May 1981, Page 30

Swimming training camp

Queen Elizabeth II Park will be a second home for the cream of New Zealand’s aquatic sportsmen and women for the next two weeks. Yesterday the pools were buzzing with activity. The New Zealand A swimming squad, the national diving squad and the New Zealand synchronised swimming . team to compete in the Pan Pacific Games, were all training feverishly. The swimming squad of 22 — Barry Salisbury and Monique Rodahl are absent because they could not get time off work — will have a heavy training schedule in the next two weeks. Yesterday the squad covered 15,000 m in two sessions and. most days will follow the same pattern. At. the end there will be time trials, but the head coach, Bert Cotterill, of Napier,

does not expect outstanding times. “They will have had a heavy programme and we will understand if they are tired. The trials are more to judge their fitness and progress,” he said. Mr Cotterill is being assisted at the camp by three other > coaches — Hilton . Brown and Isashi Inomata, from Auckland, and Clive Power, from Christchurch. Included in the squad are several young swimmers the national selectors and the coaches believe have tremendous potential. “It will be a hard camp for these swimmers because they have never had to do the work before that they will do at this camp. If they start to lag a bit we want the older squad members to buck them up and pull them through.” Mr Cotterill, and his fellow coaches, believe the squad

contains several potential Brisbane Commonwealth Games medallists. “All the kids have a goodattitude. They all want to work and succeed. They’ realise that if they are going to get anywhere they have to train.” “We hope some. of 'them will come out of the woodwork like Ursula Cross did last : season.” ' (Miss Cross, then aged 13, broke the New Zealand women’s 100 m backstroke record at the New Zealand Games in January.) Mr Cotterill said he would not discuss New Zealand’s non-participation at the Brisbane Games with the swimmers. “As far as we’re concerned we have a goal to aim for and we are heading for it. The rub will probably come this year anyway, at the mini-Games in October. If the black Africans intend to take any action they will .

probably take it then.” There are other goals for the swimmers besides the min-Games and the Commonwealth Games. This year teams to tour the United States and to attend the Australian winter championships will be chosen, and the world championships are next, year in Ecuador. The Pan Pacific competition for the synchronised swimming team is in Calgary from June 29 to July 1 and the team of two is striving for an improvement in international ranking. Anne Farghar and Mark Graham, New Zealand’s top two divers are presently competing overseas, but 12 of the country’s top divers are at the training camp. This year they have the Australian winter championships and Brisbane miniGames as incentives