Heading abroad with their sports
Southlanders are taking their sports abroad, with swimmers and darts players representing their country this year.
Central Southland College student Amie Pratt will be joining James Hargest College student Jacob Blomfield in Canberra at the Australian State Teams Championship swimming competition in October.
Amie received the good news from Swimming New Zealand recently, that she had been called to the team.
‘‘I’m really happy to be in the team . . . it’s exciting,’’ she said.
The pair’s trainer
Lisa Pankhurst is among the New Zealand coaches travelling with the squad to Australia.
Amie, a backstroker, was pleased with her win and fourth placing at the national swimming championships in Auckland in May. During the championships, she broke a Southland record with a time of 2min 26sec for 200 metres. Pankhurst said she had seen Amie improve a lot as a swimmer, and the Australian trip would be a valuable experience for her.
Also heading abroad in October is Gore’s Desi Mercer, who will be playing darts in at least two countries.
She is in New Zealand teams for the Winmau World Masters Darts Championships in England and a test match against Australia in Sydney.
There is a chance she could be selected for the New Zealand side to compete at the Asia Pacific Cup in South Korea.
Mercer is one of four Southlanders in the New Zealand Chartered Clubs’ team bound for Sydney, with the others being Warren Parry, Kelsie-Ray Te Moananui and Tayla Padget, of Invercargill.
The four were selected at the national chartered clubs’ tournament in Invercargill last month. Mercer is the women’s No 1.
She said the Australian trip would be beneficial for junior players Te Moananui and Padget.
‘‘It’s going to be an awesome experience for them . . . I think they could do really well.’’