Cook Islands swimmer Tem Strickland sets high goals

TIGHT TEAM: Coach Stefan Swanepoel with Tem Strickland at the Omanu Swimming Club pool. PHOTO/GEORGE NOVAK

Tem Strickland's commitment to his sport may take some beating.

Last year the Otumoetai College Year 13 student spent eight months in Phuket, Thailand, immersed in the FINA swim scholarship programme for 38 aspiring young world class swimmers from 19 national federations.

The 17-year-old admits it was tough on his own in a new environment, getting to know a group of strangers away from home comforts and family.

"They originally planned for me to be there for only three months but depending on how I got along with the coaches and how I trained they might give me an extension, which they did.

"My accommodation, training and food was all paid for but being away from my family for eight months was pretty hard. I got homesick five months through it as I saw them after two months I was there.

"But I got a new family over there being with the swimmers for so long."

All that intensive training and coaching fine-tuned his freestyle stroke.

"I pretty much had to redo every single stroke and learn it again in Thailand. My coach there Miguel Lopez told me straight away he wanted to fix my stroke. I have cut my 50m sprint time down by a second and a half in the last 10 months which is pretty big."

The other major change was growing up as a person and physically while he was away.

"It has made me more independent and more responsible as I had to do a lot of things for myself and by myself. I didn't have family to depend on."

Strickland was invited to attend the camp in Thailand after competing at the world champs in Russia in 2015 and the Nanjing Youth Olympics in Nanjing in 2014.

He swims under the Cook Islands flag thanks to being born in Rarotonga which he says has opened some doors for him.

"With New Zealand swimming everything is self-funded so FINA have been very helpful with supporting me."

The next major event for him is the World Long Course Championships in Budapest mid-July, where he hopes to set a new PB time and possibly qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane in 2018.

Strickland is part of an elite training squad working under coach Stefan Swanepoel at Omanu Swimming Club based at the heated pool at Mount Maunganui College.

Other athletes include former Olympic kayaker Mike Walker, world paddleboard champion Sam Shergold and Black Fins Hamish Miller and Andrew Newton.

Swanepoel has worked with Strickland since he was 10 and says he has the drive to succeed.

"With someone like Tem you are taking on an athlete you can work with and his parents and gym coaches. Knowing him and seeing him grow through the years means I want to help him achieve his goals.

"He is going to go to the Commonwealth Games next year as part of the Cook Islands team. He needs to make the FINA qualifying time but his main goal is to swim at the 2020 Olympic Games and qualify under the New Zealand standards."