Swimming: Ella Fittler excited to compete in her first Australian Age Swimming Championships

Rising in the dark, she gathers what she will need for the day and heads to the pool where for about an hour-and-a-half she will swim 'up and down the black line'.

This week that dedication is being rewarded with the Tamworth teenager taking to the blocks at the Australian Age Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast.

Fittler will be part of a five-strong Tamworth City contingent testing themselves against the best in the country, and is excited for the opportunity to compete at a national level for the first time.

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She had qualified to swim at the nationals last year but in the wave of the COVID pandemic they were cancelled.

When Brisbane was sent into lockdown last week it looked like it might be dejavu, but fortunately the championships got the green light and were able to get underway on Monday.

The first of the Sharks contingent will hit the water on Wednesday with Tilani Smith racing in the 13yrs girls 200m and Amelia Simm the 14yrs girls 200m individual medley. Simm is in for a busy time after also qualifying for the 14yrs girls 100m breaststroke (Saturday), 400m individual medley (Sunday) and 200m breaststroke (Monday).

Alex Hayes will be in action on Friday in the 15yrs girls 100m breaststroke and Sunday in the 200m breaststroke while James Ryan will compete in the 14yrs boys 400m individual medley on Sunday and boys 200m breaststroke on Monday.

Fittler's first event will be the 14yrs 100m breaststroke on Saturday. She then has the 200m on Monday.

The event she was to compete in last year, she achieved the qualifying time for this years event back in October. She added the 100m after the Country Championships earlier this year.

Getting into the sport more for safety reasons - her mum wanted her to at least learn the basics of how to swim - Fittler found she "really liked it".

That led to about seven years ago joining 360 Scully Park and swimming more competitively.

Moving to Tamworth City before the start of the 2020 summer season, she trains six to seven times a week, mostly mornings.

The early starts though don't really bother her.

"I love getting to see my friends every day and pushing myself," Fittler said.

Breaststroke has always been her favourite stroke.

"From day dot I was a breaststroker," she said.

"When I first started swimming I just liked it."

Earlier in the summer making the final for the 200m at the NSW Senior State Age Championships, she has in her training leading into the nationals been really focusing on her starts and turns.

"Even if you improve that a little bit, it all adds up," she said.

At school at Calrossy, the nationals won't be Fittler's last carnival for the season.

In the first week of next term, she will represent the Association of Independent Co-Educational Schools (AICES) at the Combined Independent Schools (CIS) Championships after qualifying in the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke and as part of the 4x50m medley relay team.

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