As Australia and its clubs continue to globetrot to revamp its elite-level coaching staff, the latest addition is Scott Talbot, one of New Zealand’s three high-performances coaches. He has been pegged to take over a new position at the New South Wales Institute of Swimming and Sydney University in January, SNZ announced Tuesday.
“Scott was a fine Olympian in the pool for New Zealand and moved immediately into coaching and ultimately into Swimming New Zealand’s High Performance Centre,” said Mark O’Connor, acting chief executive, Swimming New Zealand.
This comes just days before the organization learns what it’s funding will be from Sport new Zealand going forward. This has been a hot issue in the New Zealand swimming community, as the embattled organization has fought for previous funding dollars with great success despite administrative struggles.
Talbot, a two-time Olympian in 2000 and 2004 himself, comes from a long swimming legacy as the son of Don Talbot, a former Head Coach of the Australian National Team during their powerhouse run from 1989-2000. He also happened to have been babysat by musician Alanis Morrissette (Isn’t it Ironic?) growing up, who was once a talented young swimmer as well. His mother, Jan Cameron, is a former New Zealand Head Coach and an Olympic medalist from 1964 (for Australia).
Talbot guides swimmers like Matthew Stanley, was on the 2012 New Zealand Olympic Team and recently had a good run in the first part of the World Cup circuit. Tablot and his swimmers have been an important part of the resurgence, competitively, of New Zealand’s top swimmers, who have been showing up big at most of the major meets in the last two years.
As a swimmer, Talbot competed through the 2006 Commonwealth Games (including a brief stint training at Auburn in the early part of the decade). He then jumped immediately into coaching. This international experience, getting away from the one club he’s ever coached at, could be a positive for his development.
Also coming to Australia is former Danish NT coach Paulus Wildeboer; initial reports that a top Spanish coach Fred Vergnoux had been hired seem to have been refuted, though an offer was made for him to take over a group in Perth.