SEEING the quiet kids like Port Macquarie Swimming Club junior Cooper Burns achieve gives coach Cheryl Neville a great kick.
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Burns will head to Sydney Olympic Park this weekend for the first time and compete at the NSW Junior State Age Championships with one thing in mind - just enjoying it.
He will compete in the 50-metre butterfly, but it is his long-distance ability that Neville expects to come to the forefront in coming years.
"If I gave them eight laps to do he'd start behind them all, but just mow them down and power past them," she said.
"He's showing promise at those distance events."
Introduced to a swimming pool at just six months old, the youngster has always felt comfortable around the water.
"I think at the start of the season he was training three times a week and now he's doing five times; he loves it," Neville said.
"The progress he's made in the last six months ... he got to state because he deserves it.
"I'm glad he's got something out of it and he can see the reward for the hard work."
His coach admitted the quiet nature of the 11-year-old gave him an ability to fly under the radar.
"He gets in and does everything he's asked and he's such a good kid," she said.
"I love to see them achieve.
"I've seen ones that haven't got the big mouth, they're not in front of you all the time and they just quietly go about their business."
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