Clockwise, back from left: Casey Tiger Sharks head coach Ben Hiddlestone and his pupils Ryan Smith, Jemma Phillips and Craig Watson, who were three of the four Tiger Sharks — along with Brad York — who received a pass mark from Hiddlestone for their By Marc McGowan
CASEY Tiger Sharks head coach Ben Hiddlestone is hoping last weekend’s Victorian Short Course Open Championships will serve as a “wake-up call” for his charges after the club performed below expectations on the weekend.
Outside of Brad York, 17, Ryan Smith, 16, Craig Watson, 14, and Jemma Phillips, 13, the performances of the Tiger Sharks were largely underwhelming.
Hiddlestone is going to pen his disappointment at the results in a letter to his national squad members.
“There were a couple of good performances, but I was not overly satisfied,” he said.
“There are a couple who really need to step up and hopefully this will be a bit of a wake-up call for them.”
The meet was not a huge focus for Casey, but Hiddlestone was hoping for more.
“We have trained through this because most of them are still age group swimmers and their major meets come later, starting with the Victorian Short Course Age Championships,” he said.
“Lance Durscher, Kirra (Minton) and Diane (Etiennette) majorly tapered, but didn’t quite perform and haven’t been able to put it all together.”
York recorded the Tiger Sharks’ best finish with a fourth placing in the 200-metre butterfly, but Hiddlestone highlighted Watson’s 200m backstroke showing, where he was the eighth Victorian home and ninth overall, as the best individual effort.
“The outstanding one was Craig on Saturday in the 200m backstroke,” Hiddlestone said.
“That was the key one – it was a great result. To swim (2:08.19) is an extremely high level for a 14-year-old, especially after he twisted his ankle on Friday playing bat tennis, of all things.
“He couldn’t start or turn properly, so it affected him a little there.”
Smith stormed into 10th position in his pet event, the 200m breaststroke, while Phillips’ best feat was her quality time of 1:09.10 in the 100m backstroke.
“Ryan is very happy with that … he’s still 16 and it’s hard racing against 24-year-olds, but I love that kind of competition – there are no excuses, no age groups, and it’s just the best on the day,” Hiddlestone said.
“For Jemma, as a 13-year-old against adults, it was a great experience for her against the major girls.”
The other top-20 placegetters for the Tiger Sharks were Etiennette, 19, who came 14th among the Victorians and 16th overall in the 200m backstroke, and Minton, 19, who was the 17th-fastest Victorian and 20th overall in the same event.
Etiennette’s focus now turns to the Indian Ocean Island Games in Antananarivo, Madagascar, this month, where she will represent her home country Mauritius and is hoping to better her bronze medal from 2003.
Hiddlestone explained that those who succeeded at the state competition were training hard long beforehand.
“If they had good results at the meet we just had, they were training really well three months ago,” he said.
“It is the same for the Victorian Short Course Age Championships – if they’re training well right now they will get good results at the end of September.
“I’ve had kids training harder four weeks before and not getting great results, and that will be part of the letter I’m writing to the (national) squad now.”
York and Watson are the sole Casey swimmers to qualify for the Australian Short Course Open Championships, which start on 29 August and run until 2 September at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
