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Five Meriden coaches don the green and gold

Adam Boumelhem

Meriden athletes are competing in sporting competitions at national and international levels and look to their coaches for guidance and advice. This year, our girls continue to take notes from those with a view from the top, as five Meriden coaches represent Australia in their respective sports.

Ms Isobel Bishop, Mr Adam Boumelhem, Mr Emmanuel Fakiye, Ms Tiffany Ho and Mr Jacob McCorry compete among the world’s best athletes on the international stage and all say they are proud to be passing skills and knowledge to young athletes at Meriden.

Director of Sport, Mr Adam Raw, said it has always been important for Meriden girls to have access to industry leaders in their cocurricular activities.

“Our coaches are accessible role models for students who dream of competing in sport at the highest levels,” Mr Raw said.

“These staff members implement best practice training and competition strategies used by elite athletes and can draw on their personal experience to support the girls through the demands of intensive training and the pressures of competition.”

Mrs Nicole Boegman-Stewart, Meriden’s Head Coach Athletics and Cross Country and a former Olympic athlete, said coaches with competitive experience of their own can support young athletes by offering them some perspective.

“I competed in athletics at an elite level for eighteen years, entering my first senior international competition at seventeen years of age,” she said.

“Having started at such a young age, I can share with the girls what I have learnt about how to maintain a healthy balance between sport, school and other commitments while challenging them to perform to the best of their ability.”

Water Polo coach, Ms Isobel Bishop, has earned water polo scholarships from the South Australia Institute of Sport and the Australian Institute of Sport. She has been a member of the Australian women’s water polo team, the Stingers, since 2009, making her debut at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where the squad finished sixth in the tournament. She won gold medals at the 2012 Water Polo Pan Pacific Championships and 2011 Canada Cup and bronze at the 2011 FINA World Junior Championships. Ms Bishop is currently training for FINA World League Finals in Hungary and World Championships in South Korea. Next year, Ms Bishop and the Australian team will be competing at the Tokyo Olympics.

Touch Football coach, Mr Adam Boumelhem, has been playing football competitively for more than ten years. He was awarded the 2018 Magpie Junior Sports Award by Wests Ashfield Leagues for his outstanding performance across five competitions in 2017-2018, including in the 2018 Sydney Mets National Elite 8. In 2017, he was named vice captain of the Australian team in the Youth Trans-Tasman Series and in 2018, he captained the Australian 20 Mixed Team at the Youth World Cup.

Mr Emmanuel Fakiye coaches Athletics at Meriden. The champion triple jumper placed first at the 2017-2018 Australian Athletics National Championships to qualify for the national team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. This year, Mr Fakiye has once again been selected for the Australian team that will compete at the Oceania Athletics Championships in Townsville and the Pacific Games in Samoa.

Badminton coach, Ms Tiffany Ho, played in her first badminton competition at the age of ten and her first international tournament at fourteen. She has just returned from Nanning, China, where she was competing with the Australian Team at the 2019 Sudirman Cup, an international badminton team tournament that takes place every two years. At the 2016 Oceania Individual Championships, Ms Ho placed in the top four in the three categories she entered, including first place in the women’s doubles.

Mr Jacob McCorry, Athletics coach, has two upcoming hurdling competitions in which he is representing Australia: Oceania Area Championships and World University Games. Jacob has been competing in hurdling since he was fifteen years old and at the recent NSW Open Track and Field Championships, he completed the Men’s 110m hurdles in 13.82 seconds, which puts him at fourteenth fastest in Australian history.

Meriden would like to wish its coaches all the best in their upcoming competitions.

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