On April 8th, 2013 Swimming Australia announced that Michael Scott would be the next High Performance Director of the organization. Scott served as the Director of the AIS from 2001-05 and most recently was the High Performance Director of British Swimming, a position he held from 2007 until November of 2012 when he resigned so that he could continue to live in Australia.
On the seventh day of competition at the 2013 EnergyAustralia Swimming Championships Scott was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions for SwimSwam.
SS – Can you explain how much this opportunity means to you?
MS – I’ve been very fortunate to be involved with swimming at a number different levels internationally but also here in Australia and to be able to steer the Australian Swim Team in a high performance capacity is something that is very humbling, and also something that I’m really looking for.
SS – What do you think the major benefits of splitting the female and male teams will be?
MS – I think the real benefits will be around communication with athletes and coaches as well coming together for the relays. Overall though it is one team and we are just acknowledging that some different approaches might be needed with different groups.
“One team, means one set of standards for all, clear communication and an understanding that everyone knows what is expected of them.”
SS – What do you feel are the three priorities that need to be addressed in the pool?
MS – We need to establish a performance culture, we need to be one team and above all we need to enjoy it.
SS – What do you feel are the three priorities that need to be addressed out of the pool?
MS – To establish a performance culture we need to prepare as professionally as possible and leave nothing to chance. One team, means one set of standards for all, clear communication and an understanding that everyone knows what is expected of them.
SS – Who do you feel you can lean on to be the leaders of the squad and why?
MS – True leaders lead by example in everything they do, both in and out of the pool and once we come together in Canberra for our first orientation camp, we’ll start going through the process of looking at who fits that role within the team.
SS – What are the goals for the squad in Barcelona?
MS – We’ve already seen a number of young athletes step up and meet some tough qualifying times to make the team to Barcelona. What I’m looking for now is improvement from our Trials to the world’s in July. Individual and team improvement will help towards establishing the performance culture that we are looking for.
