Harry spent holidays at athlete program

Umina's Harry Braddish was one of four Central Coast athletes who spent the final days of their school holidays at the NSW Talented Athlete Program at Narrabeen.

Harry participated in the program along with Bailey Johns from Terrigal, Harry Loader from Avoca and Meagan Stone from Copacabana.

The program exposes NSW's leading under-13 to 15 athletes to the beginning of the Surf Life Saving NSW High Performance pathway.

Athletes that have taken part in this program in the past such as Kendrick Louis, Alyce Bennett and Daniel Booth have gone on to win National and World Championships, represent Australia and qualify for the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain IronMan Series.

Surf Life Saving NSW surf sports manager Mr Daniel Pearce said the program was important to ensure the future of surf sports in NSW.

"The program is a great opportunity for young surf athletes from across the state.

"Being exposed to some of the best sports facilities and coaching in the country is a great learning experience, especially for the kids from the regional areas of NSW.

"This program is renowned for producing some of the most successful athletes of the future and I am confident that this will continue given the calibre of some of the athletes that attended this year," said Mr Pearce.

All 11 Surf Life Saving branches from NSW were represented in this year's program.

Athletes travelled from as far north as the Tweed and as far south as Broulee.

Forty one competitors were selected to participate in the three-day program at the Sydney Academy of Sport, from over 100 nominations received.

Four elite coaches from throughout NSW worked with the squad in their chosen disciplines with the group also being visited by superstars Kendrick Louis, Jake Lynch and Katie Williams.

The action packed program is supported by NSW Sport and Recreation - Surf Life Saving NSW State coaches took the squad through surf sports specific training aimed at developing skills, technique and building the athletes' understanding of the physical training required to reach their goals in surf sports competition.

The Sydney Academy of Sport educated the participants on performance enhancing theory including sports nutrition, sports psychology and goal setting.

Media release, 9 Oct 2013

Matt Miller, Surf Life Saving NSW