OLYMPIANS SPEARHEAD CANOEING'S COACHING CONNECTION
Sydney, April 8: The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) and Australian Canoeing have today announced the appointment of Australia's duel Olympic kayaker Shelley Oates-Wilding to spearhead an exciting new program to keep young girls connected with their Olympic dreams.
The NSWIS, through its Women in High Performance Sport program, has appointed Oates-Wilding to a "Coaching and Connect" role to coach and mentor a squad of 12 girls in the Canoe Sprint Emerging Talent Squad program.
The emerging canoe sprint paddlers have been selected in a special pilot scheme launched today at Queenscliff Beach on Sydney's Northern Beaches.
It is an exciting new initiative that will hopefully see Australia's Olympic kayak hopefuls emerge for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games.
Oates-Wilding's role will compliment the additional coaching provided by NSWIS coaches Guy Wilding and Jimmy Walker.
Oates-Wilding, a 1996 and 2000 Olympic finalist, has recently announced her retirement from competitive paddling and will nurture the 12-member squad of potential Olympic paddlers, who will be granted NSWIS scholarships over the next four years.
Apart from her coaching expertise, Oates-Wilding will co-opt the services of fellow duel Olympic paddlers Chantal Meek (bronze in 2008) and Yanda Nossiter, amongst other high profile women in sport, in mentoring roles.
Meek was a member of the Australian K4 500 team that won bronze at the Beijing Olympics last year along with Lyndsie Fogarty, Hannah Davis and Lisa Oldenhof.
Meek and Nossiter were joined today by a member of Australia's first K4 international team, Gaby Howard, who toured overseas in 1989 and has gone on to become a highly qualified nursing sister. Howard will also be a key member of the mentoring panel.
Oates-Wilding is passionate about the program that will see the 12 girls come together with their mentors for two-day workshops in June, July and August.
The workshops will include paddling sessions, team work shops and sessions on goal setting and mentality.
"It is so important for young athletes to have a balance in their lives so they can be the best they can be - and we have identified our coach and connect program as the best pathway for them to achieve their dreams," said Oates-Wilding.
"If we can help them at a young age, they will get to learn so much more from so many different people and hopefully stay in the sport longer.
"Unless there is a program to support you and create an atmosphere where you feel supported and get what you need along the way, then you may fall by the wayside - a program like this can make so much difference.
"So many talented sportswomen may well have stayed in the sport longer if they had only had the kind of support we are going to provide.
"As an example, it is unusual to get to meet a lot of Olympians when you are coming through the ranks, you think that Olympians are on a different planet, but really they are just like everyone else.
"It is important to empower the athletes and find what's right for them and they can become great role models themselves.
"We want to develop a frame work not just in NSW but nationally and for all other sports as well so we create pathways and positive futures for young athletes right from the grass roots."
Australian Canoeing National Performance Director Richard Fox said: "We are very pleased to support this NSWIS initiative in order to increase the depth and quality of female sprint athletes in the national pathway.
"It comes at a time when the sport is looking to increase the number of women's events in the Olympic Games by 2016 and as a nation we need to be ready for that."
The Institute's Principal Partner is ClubsNSW, who provides over $1 million a year in sponsorship support.
Photograph: Front to back - Danielle Polson, Melissa Martinuzzo, Elise Schubert, Jessica Duncan, Emma Thomson and Allison Bryant.