Six rookies receive gold caps on eve of Para Pan Pacs

A SPECIAL shout out from two of the greatest Dolphins of all – Matt Cowdrey and Ellie Cole – welcomed Australia’s latest crop of Para swimmers formally to the Australian swim team at Long Beach, California today.

Rookies Montana Atkinson (#P337), Stephanie Bruzzese (#P338), Riley Moore (#P339), Darren Sisman (#P340), Amelie Springett-Kelly (#P341) and Kael Thompson (#P342) received their gold cap –a powerful symbol of courage, unity and excellence – ahead of this week’s Para Pan Pacific Championships.

In what signifies the official two-year countdown to the LA Games, the 37-strong Dolphins’ team is set to unleash Gen Now and Gen Next from August 28-30 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California.

Since 2012, the Dolphins have made the gold cap sacrosanct for open teams and today’s presentation included a motivational video from Cowdrey and Cole, two prolific Paralympic gold medallists.

Head coach of the Paralympic program Mel Tantrum said the Para Pan Pacs represented a strategic opportunity and dress rehearsal ahead of the LA Games in which the Dolphins will be the underdogs on American soil.

“Our aim is to go quicker every time we race – trials to competition, heats to finals. This meet will allow us to identify our strengths and also highlight any gaps in our performance strategy and refine and finetune our processes,” she said.

“We had a successful taste of that at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and now we re-set, with a bigger team, and with more rookies. This meet is important for what we do inside and also outside of the water.

“Rookie swimmers will be exposed to our Australian Dolphins’ team culture and leadership as well as the US specific competition demands.

“Relays are a focus for us. We are implementing our LA Games strategy at Para Pan Pacs by targeting entries in the 20pt, 34pt and S14 relays – an important metric for us not just for LA but in the run in to Brisbane 2032.

“And our team is a mixture of experienced and in-form campaigners like Lakeisha Patterson, Brenden Hall, Col Pearse and Tim Hodge.

“We’ve had the likes of Beau Matthews and Liam Togher, both 17, make their Dolphins’ debut in Glasgow and now we have six more rookies who we are looking forward to racing in the green and gold.”

North Queensland’s Grant ‘Scooter’ Patterson is the oldest member of the Para Pan Pacific team at 37, followed by his close friend and competitor Ahmed Kelly, 34.

The team also had a stroll through the confirmed location of LA’s competition site, which is in the Convention Centre allotment at Long Beach. While Los Angeles is the official host city, Long Beach is designated as a “Venue City” and will host seven sports including para swimming.