The Swimming Australia High Performance Pathway is designed to prepare swimmers, coaches and support staff for a seamless transition into our Senior National Teams.
The High Performance Pathways team conduct a range of camps, activities, and tours for improving athletic performance, learning about the team values and behaviours, and providing education out of the pool. These programs also include practical and educational opportunities for coaches and support staff. Activities are provided for athletes, coaches and support staff in Olympic pool and open water events and Paralympic events.
Each year a National Flippers Squad is selected. These athletes are deemed to be in the window to become members of the Australian Senior Teams in future years and together with their coaches are eligible for focused camps and activities within their State as well as possible selection onto National initiatives. The criteria for the 2025/26 National Flippers Squad (Pool and OWS) can be found here.
Swimming Australia provides a funding contribution to each State to support National Flipper Squad athletes and coaches by providing opportunities for Flipper Camps and activities with experienced technical leads and performance coach workshops led by experienced coaches.
Swimming Australia also conduct NextGen Camps each year at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for each stroke, with a small group of athletes invited to attend each seven (7) day camp. The objective of these camps is to target talented athletes (and their coaches) who are on the trajectory for international representation for Australia with a focus towards LA 2028. These camps are help in November, December, and January each year.
Key outcomes of these camps include:
- Teaching concepts of speed and efficiency relevant to racing
- Building an understanding of key technical aspects of events and tactical aspects of producing and maintaining speeds optimal to the best racing.
- Learning principles of recovery and its importance in enabling the body to produce race specific speeds when required.
- Working with athletes and coaches to develop understanding of how to apply these aspects to training – individualising around each athlete’s specific target areas.
- Gain an understanding of the Swimming Australia High Performance Culture and begin adopting those behaviours into everyday life.
From the NextGen Camps a number of special project initiatives are run to support athletes identified during the camps for further development.
