Four swimmers from Waterborn Swimming Club brought home gold and silver medals, as well as qualifying times for the International Swimming Federation World Short Course Championships, in December.
Jarryd Baxter, Brent Szurdoki, Mariella Venter and Ricky Ellis swam in the four-day South African Short Course Championships in Pietermaritzburg at the end of August, along with five other swimmers from the same club. Kate Beavon and Gabriella Grobler also received medals.
In total, the club in Praegville brought home 14 medals: Nine gold, three silver and two bronze and made 27 finals at the championship.
Baxter (17) qualified in the 200m backstroke event and was the youngest swimmer in the race, even though he had to face the difficulties his shoulder injury brought. “After injuring my shoulder, my confidence was at an all-time low but I wanted to qualify in the backstroke,” he said.
Venter, who qualified in both the 50m and 200m backstroke, said building your confidence as a swimmer is important, and to swim in your goal time.
Ellis (28), who also qualified in the 200m backstroke, retired from swimming after the Olympic trials, but was encouraged by his girlfriend to ‘stick around and end my career off on a positive note’.
Ellis is also a coach and this will be his second World Short Course Championships after competing at Qatar in 2014. This time, he aims to swim his personal best.
Szurdoki, who qualified in the 1 500m freestyle event, narrowly missed the qualifying time for the Olympics earlier this year. “I went into the competition knowing I had to do a qualifying time (for the World Short Course). It is a step closer to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo,” he said.
Waterborn Swimming Club founder and head coach, Peter Williams, who has been a coach for 20 years, expects the national team for the World Championships in December to be announced by Swimming South Africa soon.
Speaking about the group’s success, Williams explained that they have been competing together for a while. “They have a strong belief in their capabilities,” he said.
The coach said personality-driven factors and swimming ability determine how good swimmers get. Most of the swimmers are still quite young and Williams said the Olympic trials might have come a little too early in their careers. “I told the team they had a successful year of development leading to the trials, and should build on it,” he said.
