BOND’S POOL FLYERS
Six members of Bond University’s elite swimming program talk candidly about their goals and the training it takes to reach them BOND University has an outstanding swimming program that has attracted the likes of Cameron McEvoy, Melanie Wright and Elijah Winnington.
The university recently appointed the acclaimed Richard Scarce as head coach.
With coaching success at the 2016 Rio Olympics as well as the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2014 Pan Pacific Championships, Scarce is gearing up for the 2018 Commonwealth Games here on the Gold Coast.
Inspire spoke with six of Scarce’s talented proteges: Sam Young, Amy Forrester, Laura Taylor, Samuel Wendt, Alex Graham and Jenna Strauch.
How did you first get into swimming, and did you ever imagine making it this far? Samuel Wendt: I started learning to swim when I was eight or nine. Ironically, I was scared of the water, and it took me an age to get to the point where I was comfortable going deeper than where my feet touched the bottom. I started racing competitively at our local school swimming club at 12, and progressed from there, winning my first national title at 15 and making my first junior Australian team this year at 18.
My older sisters swam so I followed them into the pool. I’d say my career began when I moved to St Kevin’s College in Melbourne and began to swim there under Gene Jackson who guided me for nine years and got me on my first major Australian team (2013 Barcelona World Championships) when I was 18. I then moved up to the Gold Coast to study at Bond University on the Georgina Hope Rinehart Swimming Excellence Scholarship, which gave me the opportunity to train with some of the best athletes in the world.
How do you balance training with studying?
Sam Young: I set aside times throughout the day to study and watch Netflix to have a break. I also find it helpful that Bond University has such a good support network to help with organising everything.
The most
Alex Graham: Jenna Strauch:
important thing I have found in balancing both academics and sports is learning to manage my time. I have a demanding course load and a heavy swimming schedule so I have very little time to waste. I have a daily schedule and find little ways to fit in more studying, more sleep, and less waste. Tell me about your training schedule at Bond. Samuel Wendt: The usual week consists of nine to 10 twohour swimming sessions at 5.30am and 4pm at Bond – the dry land warm-ups are another 30 minutes on top of that – as well as three two-hour gym sessions at the Bond Institute of Health and Sport on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Do you think it’s important for athletes to have an academic back-up plan? Samuel Wendt: I have always understood the value of education, particularly participating in a sport where the “riches” are reserved for only the very best in the world. Regardless of the sport, you can always be one injury away from oblivion, or be overshadowed by a once in a generation talent like a Thorpe or Phelps. I tend not to like thinking of it as a backup plan, because that implies you aren’t committed fully to achieving your sporting goals. I do, however, feel that an education is essential to a life after sport, and it also contributes to personal development on the whole.
Any sport at an elite level requires dedication, commitment and a strong demand on the body and muscles. I love being involved in the sciences but also enjoy swimming, so for me I get both alongside each other and get to work in a field I love.
I think that it’s important to have something else in your life because it helps with balance and it takes your mind off the pressures of swimming (and) when you finish with swimming, having a degree will make it easier to transition into the workforce.
Jenna Strauch: Amy Forrester:
Swimming takes you all over the world. What’s the best place you’ve visited? Laura Taylor: I have recently come back from swimming in Europe and Taiwan where I was able to compete in a swimming event in France, just outside of Paris. That was probably one of the coolest places I have been able to travel to.
Amy Forrester:
I had an opportunity to go and assist with swim clinics in a few towns in the Queensland outback region and that was a really rewarding experience. It was so different and out of my comfort zone so even though it’s not as exotic as some of the other places I’ve been to, it was one of the best.
Alex Graham:
Swimming has taken me around the globe since the age of 14 and has given me the opportunity to see some amazing places. This year I was fortunate enough to travel to Europe for nine weeks on a swimming tour that ended in Budapest for the world championships. We travelled to Monaco, Barcelona, Canet (France), Rome, Chartres (France), The Hague and Eindhoven (Netherlands) and Budapest, which was a very cool trip.
Of all your achievements, what are you most proud of? Laura Taylor: Definitely making the Australian University Games team this year to represent the country in Taiwan.
Samuel Wendt:
I’d have to say I’m most proud of the bronze medal our relay team won in the 4x100m freestyle at the recent 2017 FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. This medal was special (because) I was alongside my training partner, Elijah Winnington, and Gold Coast local Jordy Brunt, which is a rare occasion in the often-individual sport of swimming.
Alex Graham:
When I first made the senior swimming team in 2013 for the World Championships in Barcelona. A close second would be getting back on to the senior team in 2017 after missing the previous three major meets by small margins.
Where to from here? Sam Young:
From here I will continue training for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games trials that will be held in February next year.
I am training for
Alex Graham:
the Games in April, but before that meet we have the trials in February and March so this is the short-term target. Tokyo 2020 is always in the back of my mind and the next few years of training will be in preparation for the goal of being selected for the Olympic team.
My ultimate goal in swimming is to win a gold medal in 200m breaststroke at an Olympic Games but for now I am training hard and working towards making the Australian team for the Games. My academic studies will continue here at Bond University with the plan of graduating in biomedical science and working towards a masters in genetic counselling or a job in the scientific field.
Jenna Strauch: