Bill Sweetenham, one of Australia’s most successful and experienced high performance swimming coaches, is passing on his knowledge and expertise to the next generation of coaches.

Sweetenham recently spoke about the benefits of a good education in becoming an effective high performance coach, at a national professional development workshop of the National Coach Scholarship Program (NCSP) in February.

The NCSP enhances the training and development of future high performance coaches by providing practical hands-on coaching experience supported by an experienced mentor. Coaches undertake professional development that is tailored to their individual needs, and have the opportunity to undertake a postgraduate qualification in sports coaching.

Speaking at the workshop, Bill Sweetenham challenged 17 NSCP coaches to get out of their ‘comfort zone’ and to make the most of their professional development opportunity through setting goals, gaining practical experience and learning from the best in high performance sport.

‘The NCSP provides an opportunity for emerging coaches to be exposed to a range of experiences and techniques through professional development and education in preparation for high performance sport,’ Sweetenham said. ‘Coaches are getting much better prepared and equipped to perform at the elite level through professional development, training and education opportunities of NSCP.’

Sweetenham said professional development and educational opportunities like the NSCP — supported by Australian Institute of Sport specialist sports science and coaching expertise — are critical in helping prepare Australia’s next generation of high-performance coaches for the pressure and demands of elite sport.

The legendary swimming coach has witnessed significant changes in coaching methods and techniques through new technological advances in sports science. He said that coaches need to work in cooperation with range of sports science experts in biomechanics, performance psychology, physiology and sports medicine.

Sweetenham also spoke about the special qualities required to become an effective coach in high performance sport. 

‘Coaches need to be passionate, enthusiastic and driven by high standards in order to succeed at the elite level,’ Sweetenham said. ‘Today’s coaches must be innovative, creative and driven by a hard work ethic in high performance sport.’

Sweetenham has enjoyed great success at the international level. He started his coaching career based in Mount Isa, in outback Queensland, at the local club level. He went on to become one of the founding coaches of the Australian Institute of Sport Swimming program from 1981 to 1990. Sweetenham’s other key coaching roles included head swimming coach of the Hong Kong Sports Institute (1990–95) and national youth coach of Australian Swimming (1995–2000, now Swimming Australia).

While serving as National Performance Director of British Swimming, from November 2000 to October 2007, Sweetenham helped revitalise and support Britain’s swimming medal success at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.