By PHILIP CHANDLER
Queenstown’s junior swimmers are reaping the benefits of recent tuition from former New Zealand Olympics coach Clive Power.
Power, who left last Saturday, had the reins for three months after Queenstown Swimming Club’s former coach left.
His influence was evident at two recent meets where squad members all achieved personal bests.
A team of 13 mostly 10-to-12-year-olds competed at the Makos Junior Red Light Invitational, in Dunedin, which attracted clubs from all over the South Island, and came away with seven golds.
A smaller team achieved similar exceptional results at the Orca summer meet in Dunedin.
The club’s new coach, Lauren Taylor, who’s come down from the Waikato and been mentored by Power, took over last week.
‘‘Clive’s made it really easy for me to take over,’’ she says.
South Canterbury-based Power, who coached NZ’s Rio Olympics team, says Queenstown’s ‘‘always produced some good athlete swimmers, and there’s no difference this time, I was very impressed with what I was working with’’.
He adds he tried to impress on parents ‘‘these young kids have to learn skills before they look at training, it’s something people lose sight of’’.
Meanwhile, he says Taylor will be ‘‘a good fit’’ for the club’s programme.
‘‘She’s got a good philosophy for young swimmers.’’
