THE Kingscliff Swimming Club has had some amazing champions over the years – Chris Fydler, Josh Watson, Sophie Eddington and now a Kingscliff schoolgirl is set to follow in their footsteps.
Fourteen-year-old Kate Wilson burst onto the Australian swimming stage earlier this month with a medal-winning performance at Australian Open Age Championships in South Australia.
Competing in the multi-class division the Mt St Patrick College Year Nine student, who turns 15 next month, qualified third fastest for the finals before going on to take silver in the 50m breast stroke.
It was her first-ever appearance at the national titles and came less than a fortnight after a three-medal haul and a PB in all of her events at the Australian Age titles, where she competed in the 11-14 age group.
Kate said she made the Australian Multiclass Youth Squad last year and without that she probably wouldn’t have gone on to Nationals at all. As it was this year’s event was “just for the experience”.
And what an experience for the young swimmer who trains at Kingscliff pool with Dwayne Fitzsimmons and Gavin Urqhuart from the Kingscliff Swimming Club.
“We wouldn’t have even gone this year if it hadn’t been for the Youth Squad – they recommended it so they could start to compare our times against everyone else’s,” she said.
“It was very overwhelming actually because when I first got there everyone had their own specialised coaches and their own team and there was everyone you see on TV like James Magnusson and Alicia Coutts,” Kate laughed.
“I just wanted to get into the pool.
“It was like stepping into this whole new world – I wasn’t really prepared for it.”
Kate said it opened her eyes to the possibilities and maybe a chance at a childhood thought of becoming a paralympian – not that she would make it but that “it was now possible”.
The chance of making it further in the sport she loves has now become a real possibility for this Kingscliff teen – the next step is gaining International Classification (she swims in the S6 classification in Australia but must be assessed by an international panel that only visits this country two times a year). The next opportunity comes at the Australian Short Course Championships in September and then maybe, just maybe there is a chance at Commonwealth Games and World Titles and eventually the Paralympics.
But first, after three major meets (she went to All Schools last week) and a musical (as a member of the chorus for Joseph’s Technicolour Dream Coat at Mt St Pat’s at the weekend) all in the space of a month, swimming is not first priority.
Kate said she’s just looking forward to eating chocolate and taking a break.
