Mottram to coach the On Athletics Club Oceania squad
John Salvado |
Former middle-distance great Craig Mottram has been charged with driving the Australian version of the model that has helped turn US-based Olli Hoare into a world beater.
The initial five members of On Athletics Club Oceania were revealed on Wednesday, joining established OAC teams in the US and Europe.
Commonwealth 1500m champ Hoare, rising American superstar Yared Nuguse and Kenyan distance running legend Hellen Obiri are part of the OAC squad based in Boulder, Colorado.
With the Brisbane Olympics nine years away, the first intake of the Oceania team is skewed more towards development – for now.
It includes teenager Claudia Hollingsworth, Keely Small, Tess Kirsopp-Cole and Maudie Skyring – all of whom are 25 or under – and steeplechaser Ben Buckingham.
The precociously-talented Hollingsworth ran the 800m at the junior and senior world championships last year while juggling her Year 11 studies at Mentone Grammar.
“Claudia who’s 17, will be 27 come 2032, so she’ll be in her prime while some of the others will have moved on,” said Mottram, the head coach and manager of the OAC Oceania squad.
“There’s the intake of athletes and the transition out when the time is appropriate too.
“The goal from my point of view, and it’s globally supported as well, is to build this thing with developing athletes, to go on and work with them.
“The only way to get real credibility in doing this is to actually build them and work within your model to get success based on what you’re doing with them, rather than just buying them in.
“We’re not poaching athletes, we’re building athletes.”
Mottram said it was not a deliberate approach to begin with a female-dominated squad, with the aim to add another three men over the next year or two.
But they have to be the right fit.
“Once you get a couple of good ones, it’s a lot easier for others to want to be a part of it,” said Mottram.
“The first question I get asked when I’m chatting with someone is ‘who’s in the group?’
“Up until today we haven’t been able to address that.
“So from a boys’ point of view, now that Ben has been announced as the first male, those conversations will be a lot easier, just because of who he is.
“And with the girls, obviously everyone wanted to train with Claudia , who’s 17 and she’s a gun.
“Great personality, phenomenal athlete, exceptionally bullish in terms of what she wants to do and that makes her a a great training partner.
“So in that sense, the girls just grew a lot quicker than the boys.”
Hoare was at the OAC launch in Melbourne on Wednesday and will contest the mile at Thursday night’s Maurie Plant Meet at Lakeside Stadium before heading back to Boulder.
Mottram said the 25-year-old had the potential to become the best mile/1500m runner in the world with the backing of coach Dathan Ritzenhein and the elite OAC American squad.
“We want to become that down here,” said Mottram, who won bronze in the 5000m at the 2005 world championships, silver in the same event at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and two 3000m World Cup golds.
“We’re under no illusions it’s not going to happen this year in terms of being that desirable group.
“But we’ve got to build it and use the success of the team we’ve currently had in the US to help us get it up and going.
“And we will. We need it desperately down here.”
AAP
