The National Elite Development Program’s three-day sprint camp will see the young athletes practice their craft ahead of the January 27-29 Grand Prix on Lake Wendouree.

They will spend up to three hours on the water during two sessions each day while the rest of their time will be divided between goal-setting, education and motivational classes.

On-water sessions will mostly involve the K4 canoe sprint kayaking class.

NEDP Victorian coach Peter Gargiulo is running the Australian Canoeing-organised event and said it would not only give the athletes the chance to prepare for the Grand Prix but also assist them in competing at the highest level.

“The focus of the program is obviously for Olympics,” he said.

“Now we’re not talking the next ones (London), perhaps not even the ones in Rio (2016) but certainly 2020 and beyond these kids, they’re all aged 16, 17 and 18, so they’re still quite young and they’re still in their early phases of development, some of them have only been paddling for a year-and-a-half, but through our state development programs we’re really trying to escalate these kids and get them some good skills.”

Australian Canoeing’s first sprint camp finished at the Gold Coast on Sunday and Gargiulo said the athletes enjoyed being part of the NEDP.

“They love it; kids love being associated with anything like that with the title, and it gives them all a little prestige basically,” he said.

“The kids are here because they love paddling, they’re not being forced to do it, they’re enthusiasm is natural and they’re excited.”