By LIAM TWOMEY
ESSENDON Aquatic is going all out in the lead up to the 2016 Olympics. The club has earmarked the Olympic trials as the main aim for a number of its swimmers and will be leaving no stone unturned to get at least one athlete on the plane to Rio.
Junior development squad trainer Chris Briffa said it would be great to see a Western Suburbs swimmer reach the top level.
“We are pushing hard to get one of our kids onto a junior national team,” he said.
“We are looking at building our squads up stronger at Vic Uni so we can have state and national squads training from there.
“This will help kids in the West.”
Briffa is joined at the Victoria University pool by former student-turned coach Dominic Scholtes.
Scholtes is one of the success stories at Essendon Aquatic after climbing his way up the championship ranks to compete at the 2013 Energy Australia Swimming Championships in Adelaide.
The event also doubled as qualifiers for the FINA World Championships being held in Barcelona in August.
“Domenic was one of my juniors when I began with the club seven years ago,” Briffa said.
“He has since moved onto being our club captain competing at States, Aged Nationals and more recently Open Age Nationals.
“That makes me feel proud as a coach.
“All the hard work … is paying off, and the club is getting good results from its junior program.”
Essendon Aquatic is looking to expand its membership base as the season progresses. Anyone interested in finding out more information can contact the club on 9354 0887 or via its website http://www.essendonaquatic.org.au/Home.html.
