Hui Tong: Commonwealth Games coach profile
Issue: Volume 29 Number 1
Training a team with athletes ranging in age from 13 to 28 years presented one of the more interesting challenges faced by Diving Head Diving Coach Hui Tong in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games.
At just 13 years of age, much media attention had focussed on Melissa Wu who was not only the youngest member of the diving squad, but also the youngest member of the entire Australian Commonwealth team.
Meanwhile Chantelle Newberry, at 28 years, was dealing with speculation that Melbourne could well be her last Commonwealth Games.
With daily training programmes set for athletes on an individual basis, Tong’s coaching team needed to take into account things such as the events a diver was competing in, any injuries, work and school schedules as well as their ages.
‘It definitely makes things interesting,’ Tong says. ‘We had a number of preparation camps in Brisbane leading up to the Commonwealth Games to bring all the team together. The camps were to focus on synchronised training and team building activities.’
He adds that the combination of senior and junior athletes did work in Australia’s favour. ‘The younger athletes get to watch how successful world-class athletes go about their preparations; and the senior athletes get a real boost from the enthusiasm and excitement of the younger athletes.’
Tong says as coach, it was important to manage the different needs of athletes to achieve success. ‘Fortunately there was a high level of respect and harmony within the team.’
Tong declines to be drawn on whose performance he felt was a highlight of the Games, instead saying that it was a good ‘overall team performance’. He does, however say that the performance of some of the younger team members in their first-ever international competition was memorable.
‘The overall Australian team result of 15 medals - five gold, five silver and five bronze - was about what I expected. The introduction of synchronised events in Melbourne for the first time increased the total number of gold medals available from six to 10,’ Tong says.
‘Our result from Manchester was three gold and two bronze medals.’
He says going into the Games Canada was seen as Australia’s main threat. ‘They have three world-class athletes who were capable of winning all six individual events at the games. Alexandre Despatie was probably the best diver of the meet, winning four medals.
‘England were coming off a great home result from Manchester but a couple of leading English athletes were injured.
‘The overall standard of divers from Malaysia has been improving rapidly over the past four to five years and they will be a real threat in the future.’
After just a four-day break following the Games, the Australian divers commenced preparations for the FINA Diving World Cup in China in July, with lead up grand prix events in China, the United States and Italy.
‘The athletes all know that to do well at the other international competitions they have to get back into training,’ Tong says. ‘It is just part of the sport.’
