2008 AIS Visit and Telopea Swim Meet

It is not an easy task to organize a swimming trip, especially when it is inter-state.  It took a lot of phoning, emailing and more emailing before the day for departure. 

Some of the swimmers and adults travelling had been the previous year so they knew what to expect. The AIS Halls of Residence is a safe compound with high security.  We were all checked in and given room keys, a debrief and some time to settle in and catch up before dinner.  Before long the girls were in the common room dancing and singing and the boys in the games room.

Once again the AIS Dining Hall did not disappoint.  As it was Halloween all the tasty dishes had some ghoulish names with blood red custard to finish off dessert.  We all rolled out of the dining hall and headed to the Conference Room for a presentation by two of the AIS Beijing Olympic Swimmers, Belinda Hocking (200 backstroke) and Alicia Coutts (200 IM).

Some of the older swimmers might remember Belinda from Vic Country Champs and Alicia had a lot of media coverage leading up to the Olympics.  These girls have some amazing stories to reach their goals.

The girls train at the AIS and provided us with an insight into what life is like at the AIS. Their daily routine includes school work.  10 swim sessions, 3 gym and 2 Pilates classes are part of a normal week.

Belinda and Alicia told us what they have had to sacrifice to reach the Olympics for themselves and families. We also learnedmore about the Beijing Olympics than what was covered on the media. Toilets in China are not always the best and babies without nappies are a trap for unsuspecting tourists.

Also staying at the Halls of Residence was a group of gymnasts who were there for a training camp.  They were all so neat with there hair pinned back and glitter and eye make on for breakfast.  We chatted to one of the coaches and they train 32 hours a week and we thought swimming was hard.  On the other hand there was all these beefy men walking around, when chatting to them they were trying out for selection for the Australian Rugby 7's.  So you never know who you are going to meet.

With the first session starting on Saturday morning it was important to time the breakfast between the Rugby players and many Gymnasts.

Before breakfast, John and Carole had an opportunity to have a tour of the $30million training complex for the swimmers.  We meet Shannon Rollanson (Head Swimming Coach) and John Fowlie (Coach) two of the three Swimming Coaches.  The pool is 10 lanes with 1 -2 swimmers per lane.  The relaxing sounds of a stereo playing pop music; the atmosphere was completely the opposite end of the scale to Kardinia Pool where we have to contend with public swimmers and elements of Mother Nature.  There is a camera at the end of every lane feeding into two huge plasma screens at the side of the pool controlled remotely so the coach can flick to a lane and view the swimmer.  They can pause and rewind and analyse technique with the swimmer.  There is biomechanics testing and the list goes on.  It blows your mind away.

Attached to the $30mil pool is a recovery centre that is available to all sports.  There are spa's and cold pools (11degrees) so athletes can aid there recovery whether it is from training or injury.

Following a great breakfast, swimming got under way on Saturday morning with a number of clubs from Canberra, Sydney and Victoria. All Geelong swimmers swam well.  On Day 1 swimmers had already achieved National, State and Country times, this makes the trip all worth while.

Parent's organized themselves to take it in turns to timekeep and Telopea Swimming club keep feeding all volunteers and coaches – it was great!!  This year, the time keeping proved to be quiet without Col Beckley who has a tendency to pull the hairs on your leg.   The swimming finished about 4.30pm which gave swimmers time to chill out and do some more dancing and the boys some time to kick the football around before dinner.

After another fantastic feast at the dining hall, coach John held a team meeting in the "Sweetini's Room".  John rounded off the days events with a positive short talk.  The plan next was to watch a movie but not a chance.  Channel "V" came on and the lights when out and a bit more dancing.  The girls got John up and danced. It was a great night to finish off a great day of swimming.

The second day of swimming was just as awesome as the first.  The swimmers backed up events from day one. 

Overall it is a sensational experience.  Everyone had a great time and not only do we go for the swimming but the socializing, the experience and team building.  From past experiences, swimmers come back to train harder and work towards there goals.  You've got to see it to believe it.

Two days does go by very quickly and I am sure everyone learned a bit about themselves and what is required to take them to the next level.

Bring on Telopea 2009!!