The squad consists of six swimmers from the Mid North Coast and they will compete in Neptune Swim Club 27th Annual Queen’s Birthday meet in the Moana Pool in Dunedin on the south island.

The competition will be held over two days and all of the team qualified and swum in the Australian Age Championships in April this year.

The coach of this year’s team is Mason Marchment of Crescent Head Swimming Club and the manager is Leigh Eastwood from Dorrigo.

Waylan, 14, will be swimming in a number of events including the 800m, 400m and 50m freestyle; 200m, 50m butterfly, 100m medley, and 50m and 100m backstroke.

The Kempsey Adventist School year 9 student has been a competitive swimmer for five years, but he had his first swim when he was nine months old.

Life as a swimmer is not easy by any means. Not only do you need talent, it also takes dedication and determination with early mornings and gruelling training sessions.

Coached by Tony Hudson at Kempsey Pool, a normal training week for Waylan is swimming 30km, however leading up to a major event he will swim about 60km a week which equates to 22 hours in the pool.

Despite the demanding training, all the hard work is starting to pay off for Waylan.

He has had a stellar year in the pool. He took him about a dozen medals from the four Mid North Coast Block Carnivals and qualified for Nationals in his new pet event, the 1500m, finishing 14th.

Legendary swimmer Ian Thorpe is one of Waylan’s idols and his coach and friends fuel his motivation

“It would be good to get to the Olympics, it is a high dream to aim for but if that doesn’t happen I hope to coach someone else and help them strive to achieve a high goal,” he said.

“I enjoy training with friends and to meeting new people at carnivals – I have made plenty of friends at different meets.”

The trip will be his first to New Zealand and only his second on a plane.

In his spare time, you will find Waylan engrossed in a book, he loves reading.

To pass the time doing laps in the pool, Waylan listen to music on his underwater I-Pod, a Christmas present from his parents.

The Mid North Coast A-squad will fly to Christchurch on June 3.