Paralympics New Zealand has just concluded a two-day camp in which it hosted six of the South Island’s most promising para-swimmers at Moana Pool.
The camp aimed to give para-swimmers exposure to the high performance pathway.
As a result, they received coaching from Christchurch’s Ben Close, who has travelled on tours with the New Zealand Paralympic squad.
They received several out-of-pool sessions, including one looking at what it took to be a high performance athlete with Dunedin track and field Paralympian Caitlin Dore.
Paralympics New Zealand community development manager Kieran Wall was pleased with how the camp went.
He said there was a high quality of swimmers present and felt it would be interesting to see how they progressed.
Alongside that, he said it was great to connect with new Dunedin swim coach Lars Humer.
Humer returned to Dunedin this year after many years coaching in the UK, part of which included para-swimming.
Wall said Katie Short could be a name to watch in the future.A University of Otago student, she had a visual impairment.
She had impressed and Wall said they were now looking to connect her with Wellington-based Paralympian Mary Fisher.
Fisher was also a visually impaired swimmer and he said it would be beneficial for the two to have the chance to work with each other.
At the moment, Short’s two strongest strokes were freestyle and breaststroke.
The camp was one of several in the five key para-sports that Wall helped lead around the country.
Those sports were swimming, cycling, athletics, snow sports and shooting.
