A relatively inexperienced Team USA finished sixth on the medal table in New Zealand with 33 medals, nine of which were gold.

The standout performers for the team were undoubtedly 21-year-old Tatyana McFadden, who stormed to four gold medals and a bronze in her five events, and 24-year-old Jerome Singleton who handed South Africa's Oscar Pistorius his first defeat in seven years in a thrilling 100 metres T44 final.

Sellers revealed that the many youngsters in the team will have taken a lot from competing in Christchurch but that they must keep improving in order to be a threat at the London 2012 Paralympics.

"Heading into the Christchurch World Championships, I characterised this group as the 'underdog' team because 48 per cent of the team had never been to a major international competition," Sellers told insideworldparasport.

"We had a lot of really young, talented but unseasoned athletes that didn't know what competing at this level and in this environment was all about so given those circumstances, I'm really pleased with how they performed in New Zealand.

"Some of our veteran athletes such as Jessica Galli were really important in talking to the youngsters and letting them know what it takes to succeed at the top level.

"Talking to stars such as Jessica and competing in a World Championships will be invaluable for the guys that make it to London and the team are fully aware of what they must do there.

"When you see how people like Tatyana and Jerome performed in Christchurch, it really set a standard for the rest.

"They know that they too must get to that level to win gold and it is important that they feed off that huge energy and excitement that those victories created.

"For London 2012, we are still setting the stage and still looking for athletes.

"We know we have got some gaps there and some athletes that were missing in New Zealand that could potentially come in and fill those gaps so we really have to step it up now and shed that 'underdog' tag that we had going into Christchurch.

"We have already been working really hard on our London 2012 preparations.

"We've looked at the best places for our training camps and I've been to London to look at the Athletes' Village and see what is going on there.

"Our preparations will continue right up to the start of the Paralympic Games."

Sellers claimed that she feels that the US will be at an advantage in London as there are many similarities between the English and American culture.

"Beijing 2008 was a culture-shock for some of the team as there was a whole language barrier and a different mentality but that won't be the case in London," she said.

"The athletes will have a great time there and from what I have seen, the preparation for the Games from the Organising Committee are fantastic.

"It is great that a lot of the venues are in such close proximity and easy to get to which will create a fantastic vibe and I'm particularly excited about the marathon going through the centre of the city.

"We have three fantastic training centres in the United States based in Lake Placid, Colorado Springs and San diego.

"Most of the hard work will be done there over the next year so by the time we arrive in London; we will be fully prepared and ready to roll."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]