Swimming NSW Launches Latest Olympic Inspired Push To Make The Once Premier State Great Again
Swimming NSW, once a powerhouse of swimming in Australia, will advertise worldwide to ensure it appoints the best possible head coach to lead the newly created Southern Performance Centre based out of Sydney’s Sutherland Leisure Centre.
The Southern Performance Centre – the fourth Swimming NSW Performance Centre – is the latest addition to Olympic & Paralympic inspired push to make NSW great again.
The Sutherland Shire – a thriving sporting metropolis in southern coastal reaches of Sydney – has long been a swimming stronghold in NSW – particularly in the 1990s and 2000s – headlined by the likes of nine-time Olympic medal winning legend Ian Thorpe and fellow Olympians Kirsten Thomson and Craig Stevens and Commonwealth Games gold medallists Simon Cowley and Jason Cram.
Sutherland Shire Mayor, Councillor Carmelo Pesce with the Swimming NSW and NSWIS Performance Team and the Aquadot Swim Team. Photo Courtesy Swimming NSW.
All five swam with the powerful SLC Aquadot – a club based at the Sutherland Leisure Centre and led by the calibre of acclaimed international coaches Doug Frost, Tracey Menzies and Greg Hodge.
Sutherland Shire Council and the NSW Institute of Sport have joined forces with Swimming NSW to launch this latest Performance Centre in the Shire – a sister program to the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (SOPAC), Newcastle University (NU) Sport in Newcastle, Australian Catholic University (ACU) Blacktown and AIS Performance Centre in Canberra .
The team adding the Midas touch to the once premier State of swimming is of Olympic proportions.
Swimming NSW president Chris Fydler – a triple Olympian and Sydney 2000 gold medallist heads the all-star management cast, alongside Swimming NSW CEO Thomson, a Sydney 2000 silver medallist in the pool; Thorpe himself, now an influential Swimming NSW board member and the newly appointed Swimming NSW Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, James Hickman, a triple Olympic British swimmer, who rounds out the Games heavyweights.
The two new Performance coaching roles – Head Coach and Assistant Coach – will be advertised nationally and internationally to find the best possible coaches to place swimmers on the 2028 Los Angeles and 2032 Brisbane Olympic teams.
The existing SLC Aquadot Swimming Club program will underpin the Performance Program with the two groups working closely together.
It is not out of the question that the far-reaching search will attract some of the world’s best credentialled coaches.
Fydler, himself a product of a regional program in Kingscliff in northern NSW and NSWIS said Swimming NSW was excited about the Southern Performance Centre and its role in propelling NSW athletes to new heights.
“Funded by our partners, the Centre is poised to again become a beacon of excellence in this area of our State, aligning with Swimming NSW’s vision to be the number one State in performance and participation,” said Fydler, who knows only too well the enormity of that task and that No 1 mantle in Australia has long been proudly held by archrivals Queensland.
Sutherland Shire Mayor Camelo Persce with NSWIS HP Manager Andy Burns and Swimming NSW president Chris Fydler OAM. Photo Courtesy Swimming NSW.
Sutherland Shire Mayor, Councillor Carmelo Pesce said the establishment of the Performance Centre would come as a major boon for the sport within the Sutherland Shire, providing local swimmers with enhanced access to elite level coaching and training opportunities.
“The Sutherland Shire has produced some of Australia’s greatest swimmers, including legendary Australian Olympian Ian Thorpe, and the establishment of the Southern Performance Centre will ensure athletes and coaches from throughout our region and beyond have more opportunity than ever before to chase their dreams,” Mayor Pesce said.
ABOUT THE SWIMMING NSW PERFORMANCE PROGRAM: Swimming NSW Performance Centres provide high performance environments led by nationally and internationally recognised coaches, supported by NSW Institute of Sport performance team members. Sutherland Leisure Centre, and the commitment of the Sutherland Shire Council to ensure that the centre delivers a high-performance environment, provide an ideal location for the Performance Centre.
Along with athletes training within Sutherland Leisure Centre squad programs, targeted NSW swimmers and their coaches will be invited to attend sessions at the Performance Centre and Swimming NSW Pathway Squads will benefit from camps and developmental opportunities.
It will be another flop. Haven’t had a decent swimmer come out of the shire for years. Congratulations on funding a hopeful paralympic program. Queensland Swimming will be surely rattled.
swimming nsw is a joke. Shaw mafia will stuff it up.