Age group swimmers attend development camps

More than 140 age group swimmers and their coaches have attended camps around the country this month as part of the Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) High Performance Development Programme.

Headed by SNZ High Performance Development Coach Donna Bouzaid the camps gave swimmers an opportunity to develop their skills, technique and training ethics while coaches were also given the opportunity to extend their coaching knowledge through daily workshops.

The camps were held in three locations across New Zealand; Auckland, Timaru and Rotorua.

Each camp was full on with six pool sessions and three dry land sessions with swimmers running to and from the pool daily.

The swimmers were challenged with different training sets from different coaches and worked towards improving their skills.

Team meetings with swimmers focused on stepping stones to podium placings and what it takes to be an Aquablack. There were also team building activities such as the Tower Challenge and Quiz Night.

The coaches had plenty to do as well. All coaches were put into groups and had to design and run the programmes for the stroke lanes they were assigned, a great challenge.

Coach workshops were held daily with topics on Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) guidelines, what it takes to be a High Performance Coach and other coaching topics of the day.

For more information about the High Performance Development Programme, age group camps and lists of the swimmers that attended the 2014 camps click here.