Baird's amazing journey continues with quest for Olympic glory
Each week between now and the beginning of the 2012 Olympic Games, AWPI's Road to London series will profile a member of the Aussie Stingers or Aussie Sharks team. This is your chance to get to know the stars of the show a little better.
Mitch Baird (left) in action for his Hunter Hurricanes
It is hard to believe that a water polo player could make his first ever representative team in the Aussie Sharks men’s squad.
For the Central Coast’s Mitchell Baird, though, it is an accomplishment that he is happy to boast of.
“Ha Ha well I never really played any type of rep polo whether it be at school, uni, juniors, club or state,” a light-hearted Baird recalled.
“The only form of representative team I made was the Australian Country Water Polo team. Then in 2009, sort of out of the blue, I got named in the national training squad and since then I have made every team.”
With preparations for the 2012 London Olympics heating up, the 26-year-old Baird took time away from his hectic training and work schedule to reflect on the unusual journey that has taken him to the top of his sport.
“In 2008 I thought I was playing OK in National Water Polo League for the Hunter Hurricanes and thought I could improve with more elite training, so I rang Mark Hubbard who was the NSWIS coach at the time and asked if there was any chance I could train with the institute squad,” Baird said.
“I was told to come down for a few sessions to see how I’d go. After a couple of months I got offered a scholarship which I was stoked about and then later on that year it went to the next level.
“So I guess you could say my first real rep team was the Australian team and I have been told that I am only the second ever player to do that, the other been Tim Hamill from Balmain.”
Hammil, who played for the Sharks between 2002 and 2005, represented Australia at World and Commonwealth Championships but never quite reached the highs of an Olympics, a feat Baird is itching to achieve.
“Words can’t really describe what it would mean to me to make the Olympic team. It would be a great achievement for me and especially the way I got there,” he said.
“It would also mean a lot to other people including people that have coached me in my early periods in the sport, local clubs, national league club and all the people that have supported me over the years.
“But most of all I think it would mean the world to my family who have been my number one supporters since the beginning. My father passed away almost two years ago and I would like to do it for him, as it was always one of his dreams as well as mine for me to go to an Olympics.”
The St. Hubert’s Island local will continue his road towards London with national duties in January at the 2012 Pan Pacific Championships in Melbourne, followed by the start of the National Water Polo League season with the Hunter Hurricanes.
Another stellar season in the key position of centre forward could see Baird claim that all important ticket to the Olympics and cap off what would be a remarkable sporting achievement.
