TigerSharks’ champs up against the best

By Gavin Staindl
IT HAS been an exhausting week for eight members of the Casey TigerSharks squad – just ask Craig Watson who fell asleep during a radio interview on Tuesday morning.
Such was the work load at last weekend’s New South Wales Open State Swim Championships that when Watson and a few of the other eight TigerShark members were asked to talk on radio on Tuesday morning they struggled to stay awake.
Watson, Brad York, Josh Beaver, Matson Lawson, Stephanie Demestichas, Tyrone Dobrunz, Dylan Watson and Nathan Cobbe all made the trek to Sydney last weekend to compete against Australia’s best.
While most of the travelling squad had already raced in the Victorian Open State Championships, the NSW championships gave the young TigerSharks another chance to race against the nation’s best swimmers in preparation for the Australian Open Championships in April.
But rather than remain satisfied competing against elite swimmers in Ashley Delaney and Hayden Stoeckel, the eight TigerSharks continued to work out in the gym before and after races.
“We were not going there to swim fast times or break personal bests,” TigerSharks coach Ben Hiddlestone said adding, “we were there for one specific reason and that was to gain more experience at racing elite swimmers in Australia”.
“The NSW champs are where the majority of Australia’s best swimmers come to compete.
“A few of our guys still get intimidated by the big names so the more we can race against them the more familiar it will get which means when the Australian Champs come around hopefully they get as intimidated,” Hiddlestone said.
But the work didn’t stop in the pool. Each night Hiddlestone would sit down with his swimmers and go over video footage of each race that encompassed the swimmers race preparation, how they addressed the starting blocks and what they did in the water.
They also spent many hours in between races at the gym in the hope of peaking when the Australian Open Championships roll around in April.
“I was worried that because they are so young they would get depressed because they’re not getting personal bests, but all of them know they’re in the middle of hard work and that would take a toll on their times.
“They’re using it (the NSW Championships) as a measuring stick – to measure how they shape up against their opponents and how they can still get better,” Hiddlestone said.
Meanwhile, at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre 50 of the TigerSharks youngest members were competing in the Victorian Sprint Championships.
Ten-year-old Jake Duggan was the standout performer, claiming gold in the 50-metre breaststroke, 50-metre freestyle and finishing third in the 50-metre butterfly from lane nine.
Other medallists included Jessica Li, Matthew Shaw, Tahlie Mansfield, Mitchell Pratt and Sharnie Cole.
The boys 16 and under 5 x 50 metre freestyle team also finished third overall.
Coach Julie-Anne Roberts said although the TigerSharks were missing eight of their better swimmers, the meet gave the younger core of swimmers a chance to take the spotlight.
“It was a good meet for the younger ones to step up,” Roberts said.
“We don’t train for 50 metre sprints, we are more focussed on 100 metres and 200 metres so for most to come up with personal bests is a really good thing for the kids,” she said.