The high performance program has commenced full time in Melbourne focused on Emerging and Developing athletes in line with funding from the Australian Institute of Sport. Falcons players not based in Melbourne will continue to be supported through camps, coach development, athlete plans and ongoing support of Performance Pathway Partner Clubs. Head Coach, Leanne Choo said “There is an increased number of on court sessions and we have been working together with the Victorian Institute of Sport to maximise each athlete’s performance.”

Senior falcon athletes are also gearing up for Oceania Individual Championships and Oceania Mixed Team Championships. Winners will qualify for the Team Finals (Sudirman Cup) to be held in China in May.

This year is forecasted to be a busy one with international competition with Olympic qualification kicking off on the May 1st, which will go for 12 months.

In December, Keith Edison was competing in Botswana, South Africa and Malta. He came away with some great victories and learnings. Other Falcon’s have used the summer to get in a solid 8 week block of training before Oceania Championships.

In March, Falcon players (Gronya Somerville, Kaitlyn Ea, Kenneth Choo, Nathan Tang, Jacob Schueler, Keith Edison, Tiffany Ho, Joyce Choong, Rayne Wang, Jack Yu, Angela Yu) will travel for a 6 week European Tour. They will play in Portugal, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands. This is a great opportunity for our emerging/developing players to experience international competition and continue to review and refine their games. They will be based in the Netherlands National Training Centre and train with the national team between tournaments.

The high performance program is looking forward to incorporating more player education and inviting speakers to present on topics ranging from performance psychology, managing work/life balance, pre-post competition nutrition to sleep and recovery strategies. This is an important priority for the high performance program and for our young athletes to understand the nature and demands that is required of elite sport.

‘If you are always looking for ways to improve your performance, have a listen to the Huberman Lab podcast. It is full of gems on science-based tools to optimise your brain for everyday life!” Leanne said.

You can find it on Spotify and iTunes.