Natalie Vercher is on a path she hopes will lead her to an Olympic medal.
The MacKillop College student recently won a Pierre de Coubertin Award from the Victorian Olympic Council, recognising her achievements in swimming and her commitment to the values and spirit of the Olympics: sportsmanship, teamwork and fair play.
The award is named after the founder of the modern Olympics and was presented to 170 Victorian students in years 10-12 at the MCG last Sunday. Schools had been invited to nominate a student they believed was worthy of the accolade.
To be eligible, students were required to be actively involved in their school’s physical education program, to have represented their school in a sport and displayed a consistently positive attitude.
Ms Vercher said: I was so happy that my teachers thought I was worthy of the award.”
Ms Vercher has been swimming competitively since she was six, training at Werribee and then the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
She has represented Victoria numerous times and last year was invited to represent Australia at a competition in Japan.
Ms Vercher has also taken part in Olympic, Commonwealth Games and world championship trials.
At school level, she is sports captain and holds 15 swimming records.
Ms Vercher says her dream is to one day compete at the Olympics.
“I think it’s possible with hard work,” she says.
“We heard a lot of Olympians speak at the awards, which gave me goose bumps and made it clear that was where I wanted to get to. It’s what I have always wanted to do.”
