Swim Ireland’s new National Performance Director Jon Rudd took up his role last weekend and both he and Swim Ireland are now delighted to announce the appointment of the next member of the new Performance team in John Watson as Head of Performance Support and Strength and Conditioning Practitioner. This role is a totally new role for the organisation and is further demonstration of the particular emphasis on the holistic development of the athlete which is a keystone of the new Swim Ireland Performance Strategy.
Watson will be a member of the High Performance Senior Leadership Team alongside the National Performance Director and National Pathway Manager. He will lead and co-ordinate all sports science and sports medicine support services for the Dublin National Centre at the National Aquatic Centre and for other identified athletes within the Swim Ireland system. As a world class practitioner in Strength and Conditioning, his services will be utilised on a daily basis to help underline Ireland’s National Centre as one of the best daily training environments in the world.
Watson moves to Ireland from a position with British Swimming as Strength & Conditioning Coach at the Bath National Training Centre (NTC). During four years in Bath, the team has achieved consistent and significant success culminating with four medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, with John having direct coaching input with their three medallists Jazz Carlin, Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Chris Walker-Hebborn, John had also played a significant role in Michael Jamieson’s Olympic medal four years earlier at London 2012.
Watson will take on the role in April and is looking forward to working with Irish swimmers “I am excited to be taking on a position with Swim Ireland which will allow me to utilise my experience and drive to maximise the performance of Ireland’s swimmers on the World stage. I believe there is massive talent in the nation and that this can be combined with a highly able coaching and support staff to achieve Swim Ireland’s vision.”
Speaking on today’s announcements Swim Ireland National Performance Director Jon Rudd commented “We are extremely focused on Ireland not just becoming a major player in World swimming, but we are committed to providing a World class home programme at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin. Key to this is recruiting and appointing world class practitioners in their field. To now be able to offer Irish athletes the chance to work with John Watson on a daily basis means that not only will Ireland have a programme which is extra special for their own athletes but that we also have a daily coaching environment that will truly be the envy of world swimming”
The Head of Performance Support is a new position within Swim Ireland. The appointment of a National Head Coach will also be made in the near future.
Swim Ireland have revamped the performance programme in the lead up to Tokyo 2020 The revised framework sets out a vision of a long-term, systemic approach to achieving consistent medal success at Olympic and World level. The framework is centred on the people within the system – athletes, coaches, support staff and administrators – and focuses on developing a culture of personal excellence that builds their capability to operate successfully at the highest levels of World Sport.
News courtesy of Swim Ireland.
