High performance center great pathway

Caption:  (file photo) High Performance Training Center at Murray Barracks.

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, June 12, 2016 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

FOLLOWING the success of the Women’s Va’a V12 success during the Pacific Games and last week’s win of awards at the SP Sports Awards- team coach Jonathan Kassman has praised the High Performance Training Center (HPTC) to building world class athletes for the country.

The Va’a V12 coach would know better following his team’s historic win last year during the Pacific Games to beat world champion Va’a team Tahiti.

He said the HPTC has helped immensely in raising the fitness level of the athletes, despite his initial reservations of its inclusion in his preparations before the games.

“I wasn’t a believer in the first instance, because I thought we would just paddle and paddle and paddle, but then they brought in new concepts and it is always a learning process and they started to make me believe and our athletes are world class through the HPTC,” Kassman said.

“It is a great success; I work for the PNG Sports Foundation and our brother sister combination with the High Performance Training Center now is great.”

“From a sports perspective we hope that it stays for the elite and also as a pathways of growing athletes as well.”

He said full concentration of the center’s capability should not be concentrated on the top end of sporting elites, but also the up and coming junior ranks that have yet to break out on the sporting arena.

“We always think of the top end but there are under16s under 19s that we really need to strengthen up because we really don’t have the systems in place in our various sports.”

“If we can bring that down to the junior ranks I am pretty sure with the amount of talent in Papua New Guinea we can produce some more class athletes,” he added.