WATER POLO: Australian women's water polo coach Greg McFadden has postponed the selection of his Rio Olympic squad following a successful Sydney camp and has instead invited all 21 athletes in Olympic contention to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for the next phase of preparation for the 2016 Olympic Games.
The camp in Canberra is aimed at building on the progress made in Sydney last month and will see some athletes spend time training at altitude, while the camp will conclude with common training and games against Japan, who arrive on October 15 to see out the latter half of the camp.
With the decision to name a Rio squad put on ice, McFadden will prepare his players for two late year overseas tours, with the athletes to be split into two squads, one travelling to Montenegro, Rio and the USA, while another will tour Japan.
Speaking ahead of the camp, the two-time Olympic bronze medal winning coach said that he is happy with where his athletes are at in this early phase of preparation for Rio, outlining the focus of the upcoming camp at the AIS.
“All the players have been invited back to this camp as we were happy with our time in Sydney, now want to see the progress from that camp to the end of our time in Canberra,” McFadden said.
“During this camp 12 players will be in altitude house to assist with their phase fitness. This will help some players who have had injuries in the past to get extra fitness without the physical stress on the body.
“Not all players will train at altitude, as we feel that some need to become stronger and more explosive and others have a tendency to lose weight and that isn’t something we want.
“Overall I was very happy with the fitness levels in Sydney, but we will do fitness testing early on during our time at the AIS, and for those training at altitude we expect to see the benefits from that two to three weeks after our time in Canberra.”
While the physical side of water polo was a focus in Sydney, another core component was mental preparation and McFadden had called on the assistance of clinical Psychologist Corinne Reid who has previously plied her skills with Australia’s successful national hockey teams.
McFadden outlined that the AIS camp would see a continuation of the psychology sessions, with the training games against Japan a way for the team to bring it all together and benchmark their progress ahead of their final overseas tours for the year.
“We will continue to focus on our mental strength, there’s no magic fix to that, so we will keep supporting the team in this capacity,” he said.
“Our continued work in that area will go hand in hand with our physical preparation and we will be able to test our tactics and combinations in a game situation against Japan, they will help give us an indication of where the team is at.”
The Aussie Stingers begin camp today, October 5 and will remain at the AIS until Friday October 23, with Japan arriving on October 15 for the remainder of the camp. Those wishing to visit the AIS and watch any of the training games between Australia and Japan are welcome to do so.
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