Star coach inspires

A top swimming coach who has trained Olympians visited Karratha recently to run a course for locals.

West Australia Institute of Fitness swimming head coach Will Scott hosted a competitive swimming teaching course for the Karratha Amateur Swimming Club.

It focused on the foundations of technique that enables coaches to teach developing swimmers the essentials and to identify and correct common errors.

The day course included tutorials and hands-on coaching training over three sessions.

Twenty eight swimmers also took part.

The club was able to fly Scott up for the tuition using a community grant from the City of Karratha.

KASC president Melanie Battilana said she was grateful to be able to support the coaches and improve their skills through training.

“I believe our coaches got some fantastic on pool deck experience and you could see their confidence growing during the day,” she said.

“Our swimmers had the chance to have corrections made by one of Australia’s top coaches. By correcting their technique, our swimmers are not only faster but they are practising each stroke in a safer manner reducing the risks of injury. After this training, many of the swimmers are inspired, setting big goals for our future competitions.

“This was a fantastic opportunity for our coaches to train collaboratively, setting a club standard while the kids were able to cross squads, forming friendships and positive rivalries.”

Scott, who coaches dual Olympian Blair Evans and former Dolphin Holly Barratt, said technical changes could have a big impact on a swimmer’s performance.

“Having a sound understanding on technique can help the coaches develop the champions of tomorrow. Karratha Swimming Club is lucky to have so many dedicated people interested in becoming coaches and helping improve the swimming ability of their club members,” he said.

“The swimmers were really receptive to the concepts we worked on and all showed improvement with the concepts we addressed. I think it was particularly nice to see their continued effort and patience with learning these ideas, even the youngest swimmers were able to focus their attention over a very long day, and this is a great sign for the future of the club.”