Coach will dive in when borders open

Albany Swim Club have appointment highly skilled and enthusiastic coach Jan Victor from Adelaide as their new head coach.

Victor has been coaching more than 20 years, including the last six years in Adelaide, and possesses an advanced accreditation coaching licence.

He moved to Albany for a sea change and was coaching for five weeks before the pool at Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre was shut due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Now back in Adelaide with his family and waiting for the borders to reopen to move to Albany permanently, Victor has started a remote coaching plan where he interacts with the club’s children, parents and committee members via email and phone.

Victor said he has given members dry land exercises and encouraged them to keep swimming in the ocean.

“Swimming is not a sport where kids can just coach themselves,” he said.

“A few have done some swimming in the ocean, it is something I encourage as it means that they keep a feel for the water.

“My main concern is for the swimmers to maintain their range of motion and build strength, while also remaining aerobically fit.

“Albany Swim Club is a very well-resourced club for its size.

“The club has some amazing swimmers, eager to be developed to their full potential and we have the potential and ability, without doubt, to become the top regional club in WA in the not too distant future.”

Victor was delighted to be given the opportunity to coach swimmers from the start of their time in the pool.

“Whatever happens at the top with high performance swimming, filters down all the way along the swimming pathway.

“I found the committee of Albany Swim Club were refreshing in that they buck the trend and were happy to look for a mature, experienced coach.

“This was a natural progression for me in my career.

“It meant that I would not keep on producing swimmers for other coaches and clubs on a short turn around but instead, would have the opportunity to develop swimmers from the start of their journey in competitive swimming all the way to the end of their careers.”

ASC, in conjunction with the City of Albany and ALAC, is going to update the eight starting blocks to professional standard to improve training and events.