Report by Caroline Makin, Club Captain and Leisa Cass, President
A massive congratulations to our Head Coach, Anne Smyth on winning the MSA National Coach of the Year 2014.
This award was announced and presented to Anne at the presentation dinner in Hobart at the conclusion of the recent National Championships 2015.
The award follows on from Anne winning the NSW Branch Coach of the Year for 2014, and recognises the overall achievements of the club. It is not about state and national records or medals. It takes into account participation across all aspects of masters swimming, from endurance and our local ACT Interclub meets, to other club (NSW Branch Point Score), state and national events as well as open water events. It is about the work done within the club to support individual swimmers improve their technique and achieve their own goals, and the retention of swimmers and the growth of the club.
Anne has spent time attending workshops and seminars, as well as researching online to keep up with innovative ideas and plans out the basis for upcoming training sessions around the events on the competition calendar.
Anne’s encouragement to all swimmers and her positive attitude to coaching have contributed to Tuggeranong Masters Swimming ACT being a vibrant and forward thinking club that continues to expand and develop.
As a close friend of Anne, fellow coach and our Club Captain, Caz was delighted to be able to write the national nomination for Anne. Below are some of the words which highlight why Anne deserved to win this fantastic award and we are sure that everyone will agree that this award is great news for our club and our team of coaches working with Anne to make our club one of the top clubs nationally!
“Anne’s coaching philosophy is second to none — she truly embodies the notion of respect, friendship, tolerance, care, excellence and team spirit … Anne is at the helm of our club alongside our Club Captain and Club President and we firmly believe that everyone within our club should have an equal opportunity to compete and a fair chance to win — we have worked closely together to promote our local ACT Interclub meets to all of our members, especially to our newer members, encouraging them to have a go and nurturing a ‘team’ spirit especially with taking part in relays — Anne firmly believes in giving everyone an opportunity to take part, regardless of their swimming ability level — in effect ‘orienting’ the less experienced swimmers in the process of competition. Anne also equally respects those swimmers in our club how prefer to simply turn up to training sessions purely for the fun and fitness element of the MSA motto — truly embodying the aim of providing a fun and enjoyable environment. “
“Anne has many qualities of a great coach. She is honest, fun, a leader, and is well organised and an excellent role model … Anne is very good at providing positive feedback to our swimmers and encouraging them by giving them instructional feedback on how they can improve their technique as well as complimenting them on their personal achievements. She is a great motivator and works with swimmers to set long term and short term goals … Anne endeavours to balance individual skill development of Masters Swimmers in the water with providing guidance and mentoring whilst on the pool deck at competitions or at open water swims … She inspires our members to have a life long passion for swimming and to develop their self-confidence and self-belief. “
Well done Anne, what a fabulous achievement. We really value what you have done for our club! 🙂
