Swimming: Four locals bound for Australian Age Championships

Talani Smith, Chelsea Smith, Bella Pollard, and Alex Hayes, all from the Tamworth City Swimming Club, have qualified for the 2023 Australian Age Championships, which run for a week starting from this Saturday.

Tamworth City coach, Andrew Hunter, is "quietly excited" about their chances, but is trying to keep the pressure off the girls.

"If they can get one personal best out of all their races, that'd be fantastic," Hunter said.

"It's a big ask to get in the top 10 ... [but] they're all training very well at the moment."

The experience level of the girls varies widely. It will be Chelsea's first time attending nationals, while Talani has been prior and this year's will be Alex's fourth nationals campaign.

Though the four have considerable experience between them, the atmosphere of a national championship can be daunting to even the most weathered veterans.

"There's thousands upon thousands of kids there," Hunter said.

"The training pool has about 30 people per lane at any time. You've got coaches running around, parents up in the stand, it's massive.

"A lot of these kids get overawed when they first go in."

Given the sheer volume of competitors in attendance, and the quality of talent they possess, the four Tamworth girls will face one of their toughest challenges to date.

Luckily, most of them are swimming in multiple events, and so will have a number of opportunities.

Chelsea has the most fixtures, with four. She will swim in the 50 metre butterfly and the 50 metre, 100 metre, and 200 metre backstroke.

Alex, meanwhile, will compete in the 50, 100, and 200 metre breaststroke, while Bella will contest the 50 and 100 metre butterfly events and Talani will feature in the 200 metre breaststroke.

Training has gone smoothly for most of the girls, but Hunter admitted that Alex has been forced to balance her swimming with her studies.

"She's in Year 12, so study is taking a lot of her effort at the moment with the pressure of schoolwork," Hunter said.

"So we're hoping that she does well and is proud of what she does."

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