Young Stinger holding on to Olympic dream
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.
According to Adelaide’s Isobel Bishop, the best thing about being part of the Aussie Stingers water polo team is the “great and wonderful girls you get to meet.”
“You always look forward to playing in this squad as everyone is so talented and so motivational,” the 20-year-old revealed.
Bishop, who is the sole South Australian in the team, joins fellow Australian 20 & Under representatives Kelsey Wakefield, Ashley Southern, Hannah Buckling and Zoe Arancini as the squad’s youngest members and credits the entire group for their amazing support.
“The drive of the Stingers is something I have never seen before, and to be part of it is pretty special,” she said.
“Gemma (Beadsworth) for example, is young, strong, happy and extremely talented and hardworking and already has so much experience so I could definitely take a lot of notes from her.”
With preparations for the 2012 London Olympics in top gear, Bishop is enjoying the added commitments of a team environment, namely the numerous AIS residential training camps, and says she is just amazed as to how her whole water polo career has taken to shape.
“I had an interesting and fairly quick move in water polo, firstly playing for school and then being picked up by a club affiliated with school all within a matter of weeks,” she reflected.
“From there I was sent to state tryouts for the U/14s and then my coach Lisa Callahan sent me to state U/16s tryouts, all at age 14.
“I then was selected for that, which was a huge surprise because I was extremely young and inexperienced and quite small at the time.”
While there is still a way to go for Bishop to reach the ultimate highs of the sport, an Olympics journey is the perfect start and the ideal reward for all the effort and sacrifices.
“I had a decision to make at the U/16s level between water polo and rowing, but obviously I made the right choice, because no matter where I would have ended up, water polo is just so much more fun than rowing, with great teams and group of girls,” Bishop said.
“Eddie Denis (her SASI U/16s state coach) has been a fantastic support and of course my parents. They never pushed me, but always offered guidance and even flew to Junior World Champs this year in Italy to watch me play.
“Making the 2012 team would be a massive deal, it's a great honour to play for your country, especially at the Olympics and I’m just looking forward to the next couple of months.”
Bishop will have numerous opportunities to impress selectors beginning with the Canada Cup next month and the Pan Pacific Championships in Melbourne in January.
If chosen, she will make that special Olympic debut just two months out from her 21st birthday.
