Australian women’s water polo head coach Greg McFadden will select an Aussie Stingers squad for the Rio Olympic Games at a Sydney based training camp next month, with the selection coming from a shortlist of 21 athletes.
The training camp will be an opportunity for the team to dissect their performance during the 16th FINA World Championships earlier this month, where they finished fourth, before the battle for a place on the Olympic squad continues.
The squad contains four WAIS athletes, with recent FINA World All Star Zoe Arancini joined by Olympians Gemma Beadsworth and Glencora McGhie along with World University Games gold medallist Lilian Hedges.
With just 344 days until Rio the team will be making this camp the first step to recapturing their Olympic medal winning form from both Beijing and London when they claimed back to back bronze medals, with McFadden saying he plans to challenge the team to make the necessary changes to improve.
“The camp will be aimed at reviewing and working out why we did not perform to our potential in Kazan (Russia), what we need to do to make sure this will not happen again and setting the expectations of everyone from now until Rio,” McFadden said.
“We also want to know what necessary changes are needed and who is willing to make them.
“The camp is going to be challenging and put players and staff out of their comfort zone. We want everyone to be on the same page and to be part of the ‘Stingers’ moving forward. They will need to make that decision.”
While disappointed with the result from the world championships, McFadden believes that he has a group of players, who when at their best, will be capable of a strong result in Rio.
“I believe if we play to our potential and play as a team then we will give ourselves the best chance of achieving what we want in Rio,” he said.
“No one played to their potential at the world championships and we need to find ways for everyone to achieve at their best.
The training squad will feature all 13 players who contested the world championships, seven London Olympians, including dual Olympic bronze medallists Bronwen Knox and Beadsworth. McFadden has also invited a number of up and coming players to trial for a position in the Rio squad.
McFadden will meet with his group of Olympic hopefuls in Sydney from September 13-25, with a training squad to be announced following the conclusion of the camp.
-WaterPoloAus
