Troy Balvert (Waves) will be tested when he competes at the New South Wales open water championships in Sydney over the weekend.
Balvert (19), a physical education student at the University of Otago, finished seventh at the New Zealand open championships in Taupo last season. This is only his second serious season in the sport.
His coach, Andy Adair, has mapped out a game plan to give him a chance of finishing in the top 10 in the 10km.
"I want Troy to go out fast with the bunch for the first 200m," Adair said. "I then want him to draft with the bunch for the next 8km."
The danger for Balvert is to be caught between the front bunch and the second-tier swimmers.
"It is hard to do it by yourself for 8km," Adair said. "I also want him to feed properly during the event."
Balvert started swimming in Waikato and joined the Waves squad when he came to Dunedin. He finished fourth in senior men's 800m and 1500m at the New Zealand open championships at Auckland last season.
His times were good enough for him to be selected for the World University Games in China last August.
Balvert will contest the 10km tomorrow and the 5km on Sunday on the Penrith course that was the rowing venue during the 2000 Olympic Games.
The New South Wales championships will be Balvert's second event of the season. He easily won the Lake Dunstan 5km race in a personal-best time of 58min 20sec last weekend.
His other races for the season are at Lake Hood, near Ashburton, this month and the New Zealand championships at Lake Taupo on January 15-16.
Waves and Neptune are sending squads to the Southland championships in Invercargill at the weekend.
Coach Gennadiy Labara is taking his Osca A squad to the Queensland championships in Brisbane from December 10 to 16.
