Three coaches from the Australian Sports Commission's National Coaching Scholarship Program represented Australia at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore from 14 to 26 August.

All three coaches were head coaches for their respective sports at the Games - diving coach Mathew Helm (Athens 2004 Olympic Games silver and bronze medallist and Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games gold medallist), shooting coach Carrie Quigley (Kuala Lumpur 1998 Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist) and rowing coach Tom Morris.

Tom Morris said it was great to experience high level competition on the world stage during the Games.

'Our [rowing] team performed admirably at the Games and came away with two medals,' said Morris. 'A silver in the women's coxless pairs in challenging circumstances, as well as a hard fought bronze medal in the men's coxless pairs.'

Perth-born Morris spent seven years as a rower for his school, Wesley College, and later for the University of Western Australia Boat Club, and the Cottesloe and Trigg Island Surf Life Saving Clubs until ongoing injuries ended his competitive career.

Morris felt he still had more to offer the sport. Turning to coaching offered the opportunity to 'provide new skill sets to people through my coaching, help them progress towards their goals and then to stay tactical and calculated in my approach towards achieving those goals'.

Since receiving a national coaching scholarship Morris has seen his coaching development increase rapidly.

Morris is also enrolled in a Master of Sports Science as part of his scholarship. It's a heavy workload yet Morris says he thrives on the challenge. 'There's no point being comfortable,' he says. 'The moment I feel too comfortable is the time to move on.'

The National Coaching Scholarship Program provides opportunities for potential and current elite coaches to develop skills and knowledge to coach effectively in high performance programs.

The scholarships give potential high performance coaches a structured intensive learning program over a two-year period. Scholarship coaches are generally placed within an AIS or state institute/academy of sport program.