Team Vanuatu have a new strength and conditioning coach by the name of Jason Quelch who replaces former coach Charmaine Grame. Quelch takes over the reigns from Ms. Grame whose work guided many sports through to an all time Pacific Games medal tally and whose work with teams such as Vanuatu Beach Volleyball will not go unforgotten.
Quelch now joins a team of 6 sports still hoping to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and believes from what he has seen that most of them have the talent to get there ;
" The natural physical talent of some of the athletes I have seen in my 2 weeks of meeting and working with some of the teams is amazing. You cannot train or teach that. I love the rawness of the training venues and facilities. We may not have the best training centers in the world, but we will have what we need to help our athletes be their best."
"I am looking forward to harnessing this natural talent and guiding our athletes to create an improved mindset towards training and completion and life as an athlete, as well as adding in a more science based approach to physical performance and preparation to ensure our athletes have everything they need mentally and physically to prepare well, and compete at the highest level."
VASANOC Chief Executive Officer, Henry Tavoa, added;
"We are so pleased to be able to have Jason on board and we really hope that he can take all our athletes to that next level and maybe that first ever Olympic Medal, fingers crossed" "Not only that but we are also very lucky to have the support of the Australian Government through which [Jason] has come as volunteer, these relationships are so crucial here in Vanuatu and as shown through Charmaine and some of the other S&C coaches around that extra bit of training and physical endurance really gives the athletes that extra push."
Tokyo 2020 will offer a completely different challenge to many of the Team Vanuatu athletes and so the addition of Quelch is indeed a positive one and hopefully one that takes us to the next level.
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