Van Riebeeck Park hosts SA’s top junior swimmers

South Africa’s best junior swimmers took to the waters of Mbombela’s Van Riebeeck Park Swimming Pool for the 2015 Swimming South Africa junior training camp which was hosted in the capital city from January 3 to 7.
The highly professional training camp featured some of South Africa’s most-respected coaches and former professional swimmers who put the competitors aged 14 to 18 through their paces, with video analysis of each session.
Graham Hill, the current national head coach for Swimming SA and Olympic gold medalist Chad le Clos, was but one of the many experts who gave advice. Dean Price, high-performance manager of Swimming SA, also made sure that only the best methods and care were utilised during the gruelling training schedule which took place in scorching heat.
Former Paralympic swimmer, Tadhg Slattery was also present and assisted the disabled swimmers. Anton Jordaan, manager of the camp, mentioned the importance of training swimmers at a young age to prepare them for national competitions in April.
“The main idea is to let swimmers build their confidence and fitness while improving their technique. The training looks at swimming from a holistic level. One of the main goals is to identify potential swimming stars and to work on their mental and physical condition,” he said.
According to Jordaan, 62 are competing in the training camp with seven being swimmers with disabilities, as well as SA swimmer Ayrton Sweeney taking to the pool with other provincial swimmers.
“It is important to spend as much time in the pool as possible and we have two training sessions each day where competitiors cover from 12 to 14 kilometres daily.”
Van Riebeeck Park was chosen as a suitable venue for its warm climate and its low altitude which makes it easier for swimmers to maintain their breath and ease their swimming during the trials.
Mpumalanga were allowed to enter six competitors in the training programme, to experience the professionalism and competitiveness at national level in well-known surroundings.
“This places us in a privileged position and gives our swimmers the opportunity to get advice from Swimming SA’s best. It can only be beneficial for the sport,” said Karlien van Heerden, coach of the Mpumalanga swimming team.
Those who represented Mpumalanga at the training camp were:
• Milan van Veenhuyzen
• Jacey Bekker
• Chad Hawley
• Jeanne Joubert
• Jordan Minifie.