Swim star dives right in to coaching clinic

Nathan Capp demonstrates a butterfly turn watched by, left to right, Jacob Browne, Abbie Mortimer, Jasmine Baggaley, Lys Game, Ella Browne (obscured) and Mia Pugh. Photo / Supplied

Greerton Swim Club swim star Nathan Capp was in Tauranga on Saturday taking part in a swim clinic hosted by Greerton swim coach Tai Daniela from Swimming Opportunities.

The clinic focussed on the individual medley which is Capp's number one discipline having represented New Zealand in the 400m medley at the Swimming World Championships in Barcelona in August.

Consisting of all four swim disciplines, the individual medley requires a huge range of skills, not just the swimming itself but also the technical aspects of starts and turns.

Now training at the High Performance Centre in Auckland, Capp was pleased to be able to pass on tips to the young swimmers who are hoping to follow in his footsteps.

"I was a bit nervous to begin with but the kids were great and we had a lot of fun and hopefully they learned a lot," said Capp.

Coach Daniela was especially pleased to hear one of his young swimmers respond "Tai tells us to do that all the time" upon receiving an instruction from Capp. "It's great that they hear the messages reinforced from Nathan as well as the coach at the end of the pool" said Daniela.

The afternoon began with a question and answer session. The children discovered that Moss Burmester and Lauren Boyle were Capp's favourite swimmers. Burmester because the former world butterfly champion is his cousin and Boyle because she is simply awesome winning three medals at the world championships. They also discovered the toughest set Capp had witnessed was Boyle's 2 x 5000m repeats completed in under two hours.

The clinic ended with a 400m medley race where Capp swam the distance alone competing against a relay of sixteen children sprinting 25m each. It was a close race with the children getting it by a fingertip.