'It’s good to dream': Olympians called in to inspire Southland swimmers
“It’s quite good because I guess if you’re in a city you’ll see kids of a higher level, but in some of those smaller regions like ourselves you don’t see that."
Two New Zealand swimming stars will visit In Invercargill on Saturday as the province’s head coach looks to inspire Southland’s talent.
Olympians Erika Fairweather and Zac Reid have agreed to make three visits to Invercargill this year to work with Southland swimmers.
The first visit will take place on Saturday when they’ll be at Splash Palace from 12noon to 2pm.
It’s the brainchild of Swimming Southland’s head coach Jeremy Duncan.
“It’s quite good because I guess if you’re in a city you’ll see kids of a higher level, but in some of those smaller regions like ourselves you don’t see that. So, you can get a bit narrowed I guess.
“It’s good for them to dream.”
Nineteen-year-old Fairweather hasn’t just emerged as a national swimming star but she has made a name for herself on the global stage.
It included claiming two silver medals at last year’s World Short cCurse Swimming Championships.
Last month, at Splash Palace in Invercargill, she swam the fastest 400m freestyle time of her career at the South Island Long Course Championships, which was the 8th fastest time globally that has been swum in that event.
“She has got some pretty big names in the events that she has competed with, so they are not soft events by any means,” Duncan said.
During Duncan’s swimming days, he swam alongside Reid’s father which was how the conversation started around the two Dunedin-based Olympians spending some time in Invercargill this year working with Southland swimmers.
Zac Reid, 23, competed at the Tokyo Olympic Games where he broke the New Zealand record on his way to finishing 18th in the men’s 800m freestyle and 23rd in the 400m.
Local clubs have got in behind the concept to also help get Fairweather and Reid to Invercargill.
Duncan is in his in his 20th year as a lead swimming coach in Invercargill and is buoyed by the talent coming through the system.
His major success story during that 20 years was helping get Southland’s Natalie Wiegersma to the 2012 Olympic Games.
“We’ve got stacks of talented kids. It’s just a different generation now, your approach to them, in terms of building connections is different.
“They’ve got a lot more on in terms of school and other sports and that’s a different jig-saw puzzle if you like.”