L-R Natalie Cook, Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist, Phil Moreland, Strength and Conditioning coach at UU and Nicole Sanderson
Australian Olympic beach volleyball gold medal holder Natalie Cook visited the University of Ulster this week as part of the build up to defending her title in Athens later this year.
During her visit Natalie, along with new team mate Nicole Sanderson, met up again with fellow Australian Phil Moreland who helped coach her to gold medal victory in Sydney four years ago.
Phil is now the strength and conditioning coach at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland – the base for the province’s elite athletes at the University of Ulster’s Jordanstown campus.
In the province for four days, Natalie and Nicole, continued their strict training regime at the Jordanstown campus, using the state-of-the-art facilities to undergo conditioning work. Their coach Steve Anderson supervised the girls as they undertook deep water workouts in the University diving pool and also used the wide variety of weights and other toning equipment in the gym.
Next week the girls travel to Switzerland and then on to Germany and Norway for tournaments before the count down to the Olympics really begin.
Natalie said: “The whole exercise is geared towards retaining the Olympic title. We finished second in our most recent tournament in Lusaka but when it comes to the Olympics rankings and current form go out the window.”
The girls will have to play seven games in ten days if they are to take the gold medal, although they say that is an easy schedule compared to most grand prix tournaments where the finalists play seven games in three days.
At the Sydney Olympics in 2000 Natalie and Kerri Pottharst sent the home fans wild with a thrilling victory, beating a Brazilian team 12-11, 12-10 in a keenly fought final.
