After initially telling SwimSwam in July that it would not participate in FINA’s new “youth camp” initiative around its World Short Course Championships, Swimming Australia pulled an about-face on Tuesday and announced that they would, in fact, send two swimmers to the camp.
Specifically, Australia will be represented by Jacob Vincent from Hobart Aquatics in Tasmania and Julia Hawkins from Nunawading in Victoria. They will be joined by coach Paul Crosswell, also from Hobart Aquatics, as part of the program that is designed to share ideas and raise the level of swimming around the world.
“The program will be a great opportunity for both Jacob and Julia,” Swimming Australia Performance Pathway Manager Jamie Salter said. “Not only will they get to train with other Youth Swimmers from around the World, they will also get an appreciation of what a Senior International Competition is like. Exposing swimmers to this type of environment is rare and with the World Junior Championships on the horizon this season for both swimmers, the program will be of huge benefit for their long term development.”
This fully FINA-funded program provides each member federation the chance to send one female and one male junior swimmer to a camp in the days leading up to this winter’s Short Course World Championships in Doha, Qatar, along with one coach from the nation’s national team system.
The decision by Australia to participate is a huge boon to establishing its initial credibility. With all costs covered, it’s hard to see where some of FINA’s weaker federations would pass up on this opportunity, but until this point many of the major federations have declined. The list of regrets includes USA Swimming, who also told us in July that they were not participating.
Coaches from the larger federations are more likely to have the technical experiences and backgrounds to really make this event a major pivot-point for federations that have not had the same opportunities to build that background training base. In all, the camp should be a good opportunity to raise the profile of swimming around the world.
Vincent is the current Australian Age Champion in the 400 and 1500 meters freestyle, and Hawkins set a new Meet Record in the 100 free at the Australian State Age Short Course Championships earlier this year.