The elite squad at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia may be growing, as fellow Aussies and international swimmers alike are considering joining the home of sprinter Cameron McEvoy.
Among the names being tagged as possible additions to the team include former St. Peters Western star Mitch Larkin, the 2015 double world champion and Olympic silver medalist. Having announced his departure from Michael Bohl last month, Larkin is looking to undergo a 2nd trial at the Bond club after having already visited the training center since leaving Brisbane.
18-year-old 100m freestyle Olympic Champion Kyle Chalmers is another stud being mentioned as having an interest in joining Scarce at Bond. Chalmers has trained at his club, Marion in Adelaide, for his entire career, therefore, a move to Bond would be a change both in and out of the pool.
One attraction of the Bond University site is the fact that its Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship is offered to elite student-athletes. The coveted scholarships provide tuition and accommodation worth as much as $200,000, per The Gold Coast Bulletin.
Silver medalist Madeline Groves was one of the inaugural beneficiaries, however, at the time the funds were awarded, the scholarship did not require athletes to leave their home coaches. As such, Groves stayed with Michael Bohl at St. Peters Western. However, with the fund now fully established, swimmers are required to train on-site at Bond, a prospect that may not appeal to self-described ‘country boy’ Chalmers, for instance.
McEvoy, an official ambassador of the 2018 Commonwealth Games headed for the Gold Coast, told The Gold Coast Bulletin of the prospect of new training partners, “It’s always good to get people of that calibre to come and train.”
“I think there’s a few international swimmers that might want to come and trial or come over for a couple of months. There’s a few other ones, I’m not allowed to say – they actually said they’d prefer not to say (who they are) – but there’s a lot of opportunity for our squad to grow over the next few months, which is really good.’’
“I’ve basically spent my entire time with Richard as myself being the only one on the (national) team,’’ McEvoy said.
“It’d be great to have more people on the team.”
Richard Scarce was appointed Head Coach of the Bond Swimming Club located at Bond University in the summer of 2015, after having served on the Australian national team coaching staff at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Pan Pacific Championships.
Bond also has a humanitarian schol where they offer former top age groupers whose career has stalled an extra chance . Noone has come through again but its a nice gesture.