Strong Swim Squad for Youth Commonwealth Games

Swimming New Zealand is looking to the future with an eight-strong squad who compete in the Youth Commonwealth Games starting in the Isle of Man on Friday (NZ time).

The squad, ranging in age from 14 to 18 years, form part of Swimming New Zealand’s core development group to target the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The fourth Youth Commonwealth Games, involving 1000 athletes from 70 countries in seven sports, offers athletes the opportunity to experience strong international competition in a multisport environment.

Swimming New Zealand has selected a strong squad who have headed to the island nation, a British dependency located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. They are part of a 29-strong New Zealand team that include young kiwi athletes, boxers and gymnasts.

The swimming team are led by the outstanding Christchurch 16 year old Sophia Batchelor from the AquaGym club, who has already competed in the World Open and World Short Course championships along with both the Junior and Open pan Pacific championships over the last 12 months. She currently holds one national open record and 23 New Zealand age group marks.

Batchelor is joined by another to perform at open level, in fellow Cantabrian Natasha Lloyd (North Canterbury) who is the current 100m and 200m national elite breaststroke champion while she won gold medals in these events at the Australian Age Group championships.

The bulk of the team came from the group who performed strongly at this summer’s Australian Age Championships in Adelaide including the Howick Pakuranga pair of Corey Main and Alex Hancock and Gold Coast-based Aucklander Michael Mincham.

Main won two gold medals and a silver medal at the Adelaide event, Mincham (Waterhole) won five medals to go with the 11 national age group records he currently holds while Hancock made three finals across the Tasman.

Christchurch swimmer Matt Hutchins (Wharenui) was a standout freestyler last summer before breaking his leg but he is back to his best. He is joined by Otago’s Kate Godfrey (Neptune), who won a silver medal in the 200m backstroke at the World Championship trials, and talented Emma Robinson (Capital, Wellington) is a fast improving freestyler.

Team Leader Philip Rush believes this team will grow with this experience.

“It’s a chance for them to experience international racing where they will need to swim fast in heat swims in the morning and then get up and go faster again finals in the evening,” Rush said.

“We have targeted this event for several reasons. One is that we believe these swimmers have the potential to form a core of the team for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 and this event will give them the experience in travelling, living and competing in a village and as part of a larger team environment.”

The team is: Sophia Batchelor (16, AquaGym, Canterbury; coach Leanne Speechley), Emma Robinson (16, Capital, Wellington; coach Gary Hurring), Natasha Lloyd (15, North Canterbury; coach Brigitte Mahan), Kate Godfrey (17, Neptune, Otago; coach Gennadiy Labara), Corey Main (16, Howick Pakuranga, Counties Manukau; coach Gary Hollywood), Alex Hancock (18, Howick Pakuranga; coach Gary Hollywood), Matthew Hutchins (16, Wharenui, Canterbury; coach Martin Harris) and Michael Mincham (15, Waterhole, Auckland; coach Chris Nesbit). Coach: Brigitte Mahan. Team Leader: Philip Rush.