Six Grahamstown swimmers aged between 14 and 18 will compete against Olympic gold medallists and professionals at the Telkom South African National Short Course Swimming Championships in Pietermaritzburg this week.
Six Grahamstown swimmers aged between 14 and 18 will compete against Olympic gold medallists and professionals at the Telkom South African National Short Course Swimming Championships in Pietermaritzburg this week.
It is the first time that such a large group of junior swimmers from Grahamstown will race in the senior national event, held from 6 to 9 August.
They will compete with big names like Cameron van der Burgh, Roland Schoeman and Chanelle van Wyk in the open age group.
According to swimming coach Tudor Lacey, who runs the DSG Aquatic Centre where the swimmers train, the chance to compete against better swimmers provides an ideal opportunity for improvement.
“Will any of the group win? No. But can they go from the top 20 to the top 15 to the top 10? Absolutely,” said Lacey, who is a former Springbok swimmer.
He believes in slowly building up stamina, strength and technique in a process to improve. “We’ve started knocking at the door,” he says about participating in national competitions.
The swimmers have all made South African championship qualifying times in order to compete. Four of the swimmers already rank in the South African top 20 in various events.
Calvin Price, Tamlyn Price (both from Kingswood), Simon Pheasant (Rhodes University) and Robyn Charter (DSG) got their first exposure to a senior national level competition at the South African Long Course Championships in Durban in April this year.
Erin Graham and Nicky Smith (both from DSG) will compete at senior level for the first time. Price, who is second in the U17 age group in South Africa, said he is excited about competing and Pheasant said training
has been going well. “I’m feeling quite ready,” he added. 14-year-old Graham is equally enthusiastic and said she thinks it is going to be an “amazing experience.” The swimmers will compete as team Aquabear, an offshoot of a Port Elizabeth-based swimming club.
