He may be young but Johann Stickland has no fear of the big stage.
The 11-year-old Sunshine West resident recently cleaned up at the Victorian short-course swimming state titles, winning three gold medals and four silvers.
Despite going into the event not ranked among the competition’s top five swimmers, Stickland pulled out his best in the dominating performance, to the delight of his coach, Desmond Ong.
“It was a fantastic effort from him,” Ong said. “The surprising bit was that for most of his events, he wasn’t even seeded for a medal. The boys ranked ahead of him had a history of beating him in the past, so he really turned the tables on them this time around.
“He has really matured a lot and continues to work hard.”
Stickland’s gold medals came in the 200- and 100-metre breaststroke and 100-metre backstroke.
His silver medals were in the 200-metre freestyle, 200-metre backstroke, 200-metre individual medley and 100-metre individual medley.
Stickland, who has been with the Essendon Aquatic Swimming Club for about 18 months, will now turn his attention to long-course events, with his next big meet to come in December.
“He will try and achieve the same sort of times,” Ong said.
“The short course mainly serves up as a teaser for the long course. He’s pretty much right on track.
“Those guys who were ranked higher than him will be on the lookout this time around. Now they’ll be all taking notice.”
Stickland’s performances continue what has been a great run for Essendon Aquatic, with the club climbing to a ranking of 12 in Victoria.
