Titus Mennen, the Netherland’s National Junior Coach and Talent Development Program Manager, will be leaving his post with the Royal Dutch Swimming Federation (KNZB) as of February 1st. Mennen has been in his position for the past 7 years, but is leaving to explore new professional challenges.
Mennen was instrumental in his nation’s ‘Top-Down’ approach to youth coaching, a system he developed with Jacco Verhaeren before Verhaeren left to take the Head Coaching job in Australia. The system consists of various ‘pillars’ of developing young athletes, with one being the goal of ‘building an athlete before building the swimmer.’
The approach aims to build up the strength and swim time of the athlete in the form of meters in the pool in order to ultimately open more options and competitive event choices once the athlete is more developed. The coaching philosophy was responsible for implementing the rule requiring Dutch youth swimmers having to achieve a stroke’s 200m qualifying cut in order to swim the 50m distance of the same discipline. That rule came into effect January 2016.
KNZB’s Technical Director André Cats, who himself was just appointed post-Rio, says “I want to thank Titus for his tireless efforts to develop talented swimmers. Day after day, Titus devoted a lot of energy to his swimmers. And not without success: the junior and youth swimming were successful in 2016. Both in policy and in implementing, Titus has made an enormous contribution to the structure as it presently stands. There is at this time a huge amount of work completed thanks to Titus’ energetic approach. Also, many thanks to Titus on temporarily fulfilling the technical director duties. I wish Titus every success in realizing new challenges inside and outside the sport. ”
As for Mennen himself, he says, “My job is done. There is a good foundation for the program’s talent structure. There is every reason to look to the future of Dutch swimming with confidence. There is a lot of potential. It was nice to work with young athletes who want to get a little better every day. I am thankful for seven wonderful years with this organization. I thank the KNZB, all athletes, parents, coaches and my colleagues for their cooperation and the confidence placed in me. It was my pleasure. “
Once Mennen officially transitions out of his role on February 1st, NTC Amsterdam leader Mark Faber, along with other coaches, will determine the next steps for the Junior National Swimming organization.