Little ‘Mad Dog’ key to Hayley’s success
IT’S not often a ‘mad’ little sister propels a sibling to national glory, but that just might be the case in the Andrejic family.
Hayley Andrejic recently won the 14 years 5km event at Australian Open Age Swimming Championships to go along with a Queensland title.
But coach Luc Senent said his prodigy’s younger sister and training partner Maddison had played a crucial role in taking Hayley to new heights.
“Maddie has got the nickname ‘mad dog’ because she’s just a mad dog,” Senent said.
“When we do training sessions, we might have a 2km set, and at the end of the set she’ll be doing butterfly off her own bat. She’s just got that drive … it’s definitely rubbed off on Hayley.”
Maddison, 12, had her own success at the championships in South Australia, winning the silver medal in the 2.5km event.
Senent said he had trained the pair for a couple of years and Hayley arrived as a ready made star.
“She came through a program out at Northern Beaches under a lady called Alanna (Hayes) who did a terrific job with the foundation work,” he said.
“Her technique was already there, I just had to build the stamina up.”
Having trained Libby Trickett as a youngster, Senent said Hayley possessed many similar qualities to the seven-time Olympic medallist.
“When I first saw her I thought she was special, but it’s a big statement for a coach to make because you don’t know what’s ahead
Things can change.
“I thought the same thing about Libby and she went on to big things. Hayley is heading in the same direction. Down the track she could swim for Australia.”
Hayley said she didn’t expect to walk away from the event with gold but it had inspired her to invest everything she had into her career.
“I was just excited to compete down there and try my best,” Hayley said.
“If I came out in the top 10 I would have thought it would be amazing and if I did in life. any better that would be awesome. Just being there was incredible.”
With top male swimmers Mark Phillips and Matt Pegg along with 15-year-old Leonie King in the training squad, Senent said the team’s culture bred success.
He said he was particularly impressed with Leonie’s effort at the Australian championships. “I thought Leonie doing the 7.5km on the Saturday and backing up and doing a better swim in the 5km on the Sunday was gutsy. Especially because the conditions changed.”