Brisbane Bound
While the England Cricket Team is definitely not enjoying their time down under, two Teesside teenagers are taking advantage of Australian sporting hospitality.
Borough of Stockton and Tees Active Sports Academy swimming stars Jessica Dickons and Jemma Lowe are spending three weeks in Brisbane training alongside Jessicah Schipper, the current world 200m butterfly record holder and winner of 2 gold medals at the World Championships and 3 gold medals at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
The sixteen year olds flew out with their coach Graeme Antwhistle to Brisbane on the 27th December and will return on the 21st January. They will meet up with British Swimming physiologist Tim Kerrison who will be monitoring the girls during their time in Queensland.
Jess and Jemma will have a tough training schedule getting up at 3.15am to walk to the 50m training pool where they will train from 4.30am – 7.30am and then complete one and half hours land training before they complete their second daily session in the pool 4.30pm – 7.30pm.
The training is part of Jessica’s build up to the World Championships to be staged in Melbourne in March and Jemma’s preparation for the British Championships.
Graeme Antwhistle their coach said, “This will be superb preparation for the girls. and I am looking forward to observe Jessica Schipper train under the guidance of her legendary coach Ken Wood. We definitely will not be missing the weather back in the UK as the average temperature in Brisbane at the moment is 28oc .Between training sessions we will be taking the opportunity to take in the sights and spend some time at the beach.”