The Australian Wrestling Squad recently fine-tuned preparations for July’s 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games at the AIS Combat Centre in Canberra.

The two camps held across April and May immersed 25 of the best wrestlers from around the country into campus life at the AIS, with daily wrestling sessions inside and outside the centre, access to the AIS Recovery Centre, plus education sessions with AIS nutritionists and Sport Integrity Australia.

The camp also enabled Australian athletes to mix with international teams from New Zealand and Singapore, concluding with the 2022 Australian Championships being contested on site.

Wrestling Australia Head Coach Carissa Holland was pleased to see the entire squad come together after a challenging two years.

“Unfortunately, due to COVID, it made it extremely difficult for athletes to find the right partners and find the right athletes to train with,” said Holland. “There are few facilities around Australia with the room to facilitate so many wrestlers, so we've been able to utilise the AIS Combat Centre to its fullest.

“The AIS is a world class facility and you've got everything at your fingertips, so it was so important for the entire squad to be able to access a facility like this. As a result, we've already seen a massive improvement within our athletes between the camps, especially for those trying out for the Commonwealth Games team.”

Squad members Tom Barns and Naomi De Bruine believe having access to the AIS facilities in addition to the AIS Combat Centre, will provide the best platform to develop and perform in the future.

“The AIS site is just amazing, and it lets us train in an elite way where we've got access to great nutrition, recovery rooms, so we can really just focus on getting better and the best possible performance in upcoming comps such as the 2022 Commonwealth Games,” said Barns.

“The preparation for Birmingham has been a bit more difficult compared to the last Commonwealth Games due to COVID, so it it's perfect that the combat facility allows us to hold these training camps to come together and really push each other,” said De Bruine.

While the squad now looks towards the 2022 Commonwealth Games from July 28 to August 8, Holland already has her sights on future camps in Canberra.

“This is the centre of Australian sports and it is such an amazing place. It has been fantastic for wrestling in Australia, and we really look forward to working with the AIS Combat Centre in the future,” Holland said.

Learn more about Wrestling  Australia here.