Star power visit

The Broome Barracudas got a taste of what it’s like to train at an elite level when an Olympian and a Commonwealth Games medallist came into town. Brianna Throssell and Broome-raised Zac Incerti visited town with coaches Mick Palfrey, Sam Hill and their fellow WAIS swimmers for a training camp last week at the Broome Recreation and Aquatic Centre. In the midst of training, the swimmers also held special talks with Broome Senior High School students and held swimming workshops with the Barracudas before competing in the Kimberley Inter-Club Meet last weekend. During their visit to BSHS Throssell and Incerti spoke to students about leadership and perseverance. Throssell, who represented Australia at the Rio 2016 Olympics, said the trip to Broome for a training camp came just five weeks after holidaying in the Kimberley town. “It’s so awesome to be training up here in the warmer weather because it’s still quite cold in Perth during the morning,” she said. “Broome is a beautiful town and everyone is so accommodating — they bend over backwards to make us feel at home, which has been incredible.” Before competing in the Kimberley Inter-Club Meet, Throssell said she had never competed in a country event before and was excited to have a go against the locals. She said training has continued to go ahead as planned as the swimmers continue to look towards the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. “The thought that we’re taking is that ‘it’s on until it’s not on’,” she said. “This is our first training camp for the pre-season and then we’ll break for the Christmas period before coming back and working until trials in June.” The Kimberley Inter-Club Meet brought a fantastic turnout of swimmers from Broome and Perth and was capped off with an exciting handicap race that saw the young Barracudas try to give the professionals a run for their money.