Swimming: Support older swim talent - Cameron

By TERRY MADDAFORD

A quick look through the entry lists for this week's national swimming championships showed plenty of young teenagers - even a 12-year-old or two - but not too many on the "wrong side of 20."

And that, for top coach Jan Cameron, is a concern.

"You should not card [single out] anyone younger than 16," Cameron said as she watched her elite squad fly the North Shore flag handsomely at the championships in Wellington.

"They should be in a talent identification group. Give them all the information and support they need. Make it enjoyable, expose them to sports science, give them a tracksuit, but don't kid them that they're the elite.

"We're glorifying them. The money invested in them is disproportionate to the rewards the sport gets from them.

"If you had $1000 would you invest it in [23-year-old] Alison Fitch or a 13-year-old? I know where we'd get a better return.

"By all means encourage the younger swimmers, talk to them about nutrition, expose them to other coaches and give them ideas. Then, if they're still showing they can do it at 16, card them and give them a little bit of money.

"But most of the money should go to the elite level.

"As an example, Dean Kent gets a grant, but all that allows him to do is exist from one meeting to the next."

Kent and his colleagues in the elite squad under Cameron's watchful eye at the Millennium Institute have their coaching and gymnasium fees paid.

He and others in the squad, including Fitch, Hannah McLean, Melissa Ingram, Liz Coster, Cameron Gibson, Scott Talbot-Cameron, Corney Swanepoel, Anthony Van Der Kraay and Kieran Daly, thrive in an environment which has produced results.

"I know of Australian swimmers who get paid $1300 a month to prepare for the world championships," Cameron said.

"That is no different than being paid to do your job. They will be assessed after the worlds, then again after the Olympics.

"That's how it should be. You can't expect young men and women in their 20s to live off their parents forever. We have to help them."

Some, like Fitch, have received Prime Minister scholarships which allow them to study at university. Without that support, Fitch admits she would not be swimming today.

She still needs parental support to survive a 30-hours-a-week regime aimed at next year's Olympics.

Again, Cameron pleads for support for this older age group and the part they are playing.

Of her group, only 17-year-olds Ingram and Swanepoel are under 20.

"That has to tell you something," said Cameron, who has modelled much of her coaching and philosophies on what she has learned from her former husband, Australian coach Don Talbot, Dunedin-based Duncan Laing and national director of coaching Clive Rushton.

"We have to look after them. The younger swimmers will have their time - when they have shown they are ready."