Mikayla Gross has been racking up the kilometres over the winter as she chases her water polo dreams, but the sacrifice and hard work has paid off.
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The Year 10 Tamworth High School student was this week informed she had been selected in the 16&U (Born 2002) Australian National Female squad.
“I actually opened my phone up when I was leaving class and I had a heap of messages saying congratulations,” Gross said.
It is the latest on a long list of representative achievements for Gross in 2018 that includes playing for - and winning gold with - the Combined High Schools 1s and the NSW under-16s.
She said the recognition means a lot.
“I’ve been playing since I was 11 and trained consistently and worked hard for it,” she said.
The squad has been selected with the 2020 World Youth Championships in mind, and forms part of the 16&U female high performance program being headed by dual Olympian Rebecca Rippon.
Nine of Gross’ team-mates from the under-16s Blues team that miraculously won gold at the Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival in July are part of the squad.
NSW talent dominates the squad, which also features the daughter of former Australian captain and THS star Nathan Thomas, Nioka Thomas, providing 21 of the 36 players.
The news comes just as the summer season is starting to heat up, although for Gross there has really been no off-season.
Following her performances at the Pan Pacs, Gross was invited by the NSW coach – former Australian women’s team head coach Greg McFadden – to train at his invite only academy.
She has also been training with the NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS).
Both have meant regular trips down to Sydney, but have been great experiences and given her some new ideas for training.
Since then she has really ramped up her training, mixing swimming work with a lot of leg-work, and ball-work.
This weekend she’ll head down to Sydney to play for the Hunter Hurricanes in the Sydney premier league.
“It will be a good experience. It’s always good to play with girls of a different skill level,” Gross said.
She is also part of the wider Hurricanes squad for the National League, which gets underway in the new year.
The first training camp for the national squad will be held at the AIS from November 23-27.
Gross will fly straight back from that and hit the water for North West for the final two days of the State CHS Championships, which Tamworth are this year hosting.
