New Zealand Club Coach Lands Swimmers On All 4 National Teams….Sue Southgate, coach of Team Aquablades New Plymouth in New Zealand, has the unique recognition of representing her nation’s only coach to have a swimmer competing on each of the four Kiwi national teams this year. Says a colleague of Southgate, “Sue has a very strong culture: work hard or don’t bother coming. You have a programme that has a culture of wanting to succeed and that’s what the athletes are like.” The following Aquablade swimmers will represent New Zealand at the following competitions:
Sasha Reid, Australian Age Group Championships (concluded)
Zac Reid, Commonwealth Youth Games
Charlotte Webby, World Championships
Julian Weir, World University Games
Melanie Nocher Lands Irish Athlete Commission Role…..Irish swimmer Melanie Nocher has been nominated to the newly formed Athlete Commission Council, a role in which she’ll serve through the 2017-20 period. The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) formed the 9-person council to provide advice on all athlete related matters and ensure that ‘the voice of Irish athletes is heard in all future OCI decision-making.’
OCI President Sarah Keane said; “The new Athletes Commission announced today will have a very important role in the future decision-making of the OCI. The OCI Executive Committee is very grateful that so many talented Olympians have agreed to make themselves available to participate in this Commission and to speak on behalf of all Irish Olympians. We want to ensure that athletes have a strong voice at the OCI board table and this Commission will allow that to happen. I look forward to working with the Commission over the coming four years.”
Sri Lanka’s CYG & World C’ships Teams Announced…..Sri Lanka’s Aquatic Sports Union has nominated swimmers for its Commonwealth Youth Games and World Championships squads. Kyle Abeysinghe, Akalanka Peiris, Vinoli Kaluarachi and Dilrukshi Perera will represent Sri Lanka in the Bahamas at the CYG, while Matthew Abeysinghe, Cherantha De Silva, Kimiko Raheem and Ishani Senanayake will compete in Budapest. The teams’ nominations have still yet to be approved by the nation’s Minister of Sports.