The Western Australian Institute of Sport Diving Program received a huge boost recently – training with NSWIS High Performance Diving Program which includes Olympic Champion Matthew Mitcham and world class athletes Melissa Wu and Alexandra Croak.
The NSWIS outfit spent four days in Perth, accessing the Challenge Stadium venue which will host next month’s Commonwealth Games trials.
For the WAIS Diving Program it was an invaluable opportunity for its athletes to train and communicate with top level athletes, one on one in their home training environment.
NSWIS coach Vyninka Arlow claimed the visit was a great success, and hoped both parties would benefit from the camp.
“This camp was essential for our divers to get the chance to get comfortable in this pool and adjust to all the things that will have an impact on their training and stress levels,” Arlow said.
WAIS sports psychologist Emilie Thienot arranged a group session between the two groups focused on overcoming performance anxiety, with WAIS divers gaining the insights from Australia’s leading divers – who have competed on the biggest stage of world competition.
With the WAIS Diving Program still in its development stage, it is hoped opportunities such as this will help the development of the group as it pushes towards the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
