Two young Mount Maunganui Swimming Club athletes are heading to Argentina this September to represent New Zealand at the Junior World Open Water Championships.

Amelia “Bug” McEwan, 14, and Sheldon Hogan, 16, earned their places on the national team by competing in the New Zealand Open Water Championships in Lake Taupō earlier this year, and achieving the required qualifying 1500m pool times.

McEwan arrives in top form after she won the girls’ 13-14 years 5km title at the national championships and claimed bronze in the 2km swim at the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships on the Gold Coast.

The pair have also been named in Swimming New Zealand’s inaugural 2026/27 National Youth Programme (Olympic Pathway) Squad, which recognises 130 promising swimmers from 41 clubs nationwide and is designed to support athletes, coaches and clubs on the pathway from age-group competition to the international stage.

Coached by Stan Teokotai-White, the McEwan and Hogan have spent years building towards the opportunity.

At the junior worlds, McEwan will contest the 5km event for 14-15-year-olds, while Hogan will race the 7.5km event for 16-17-year-olds.

For McEwan, representing New Zealand on the world stage is a dream come true.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “I reckon it’ll be really fun, and I think it’ll be cool to meet people from other countries too.”

The open water specialist said she preferred to swim in open water: “It’s better than the pool because you don’t have to turn. You can just keep swimming.”

McEwan, an accomplished Mount Maunganui surf lifesaver, has represented New Zealand previously and competed successfully in Australia. She holds multiple New Zealand Surf Life Saving pool championship records and has enjoyed success across swimming, open water and surf lifesaving events.

Looking further ahead, she hopes to follow in the footsteps of her older sister Talitha, who is on a swimming scholarship in Florida.

“I’d like to get a scholarship to Hawaii,” McEwan said.

Both families are working hard to meet the costs of international competition.

McEwan’s family has been fundraising via a Givealittle page, selling firewood and homemade fudge, and seeking sponsorship to help cover flights, accommodation, team fees, specialist racing gear, uniforms and other costs associated with representing New Zealand in Argentina.

Mother Veronika McEwan said younger elite athletes often fall through the cracks when it comes to funding opportunities because many sports grants have minimum age requirements of 15 or 16.

“It’s disappointing that there isn’t more support available for athletes who reach this level at such a young age,” she said.

“International sport competitions come at a high cost financially,” Sheldon’s mother Lorraine Hogan said.

With training and competitions filling most weeks, fundraising opportunities were limited, although the Hogan family had a launched a Givealittle campaign to help meet costs of flights, accommodation, team fees, uniforms, competition expenses and specialist equipment.

Like many age-group athletes in New Zealand, Sheldon must largely fund his international campaign himself.

Open water swimmer Sheldon Hogan.

Sheldon began swimming with Mount Maunganui Swimming Club when he was 7 and has been coached by Teokotai-White for the past decade.

His family said his selection is the reward for years of balancing school with early mornings in the pool and open water, developing the endurance and resilience to compete at the highest level.

A natural distance swimmer, his long-term ambition is clear.

“Olympics,” Lorraine said.

Club captain Monique Beattie said the pair’s achievements reflected years of commitment rather than overnight success.

“They are both very dedicated to the sport,” she said. “We’ve got a great supportive coaching team, but it didn’t just wake up and happen for them. They’ve both been working very hard.”

The club has nearly 200 members and many senior athletes start pool sessions before dawn and return later for more swimming or gym work.

“It’s not uncommon for them to leave the pool, go straight to school, then come back before they go home and train again,” Beattie said.

While the coaches are paid, she said the club’s board is volunteer-run.

Both McEwan and Hogan will leave New Zealand in late August ahead of the championships in Santa Fe.

Both families encouraged people who’d like to support the swimmers’ journeys to donate via their Givealittle pages or share the campaigns within the community.