John Fowlie wins Coach of the Year award from Speedo – Swimming News
John Fowlie, coach of the five-time Commonwealth champion, Alicia Coutts, has won the 2011 Coach of the Year award given by the Speedo Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association (ASCTA).
With his award, Fowlie has joined the league of impressive Australian coaches that include Bill Nelson, Scott Volkers, John Carew, Stephan Widmer, Shannon Rollason, Denis Cotterell, Ian Pope and Doug Frost.
The news was announced by the President of ASCTA, Ron McKeon, at the 40th anniversary of the association. McKeon is the former Olympian and swimming coach, who was very excited after declaring Fowlie’s name.
Fowlie is currently supervising an altitude camp of the Australian swimming squad in North America, to train his pupils for the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July. This is his third altitude training camp and he is very hopeful about enhancing the performance of his swimmers. Coutts is also training at the camp and preparing herself for the upcoming FINA organised World Championships.
The award winner failed to please the crowd with his presence and the Australian Head Coach, Leigh Nugent, had to collect his award.
Nugent praised the young Australian coach by saying that Fowlie is undoubtedly one of the most thrilling coaches Swimming Australia has ever had. He said that the award is the evidence of Fowlie’s excellence and hard work.
Nugent added, “His work with Alicia Coutts to win gold medals in two individual strokes (butterfly and freestyle) and the 200 IM, as well as her part in Australia’s gold medal medal-winning relays was nothing short of fantastic.”
While speaking about Fowlie’s skills, Nugent said, “Apart from his coaching ability and his love of the sport he also uses all the tools and technology at his disposal at our National Training Centre in Canberra, where he started his rise to international coaching as a scholarship coach and he is quickly developing into a modern day Forbes Carlile with his innovative coaching style.”
There were around 700 swimming coaches and teachers present at the 40th celebration of ASCTA, where five other awards were also distributed. Redcliffe Leagues’ Ken Wood earned the Open Water Coach of the Year, Craig Jackson was named as the Agee Group Coach of the Year, Graeme Carroll won the Multi-Class Coach of the Year award, Francis Godden got Masters Coach of the Year and Matt Brown secured the Platinum License Certificate.
Adelaide has also won the bid to host the 2012 Australian National Championships, which will act as a trial for the 2012 London Olympic Games. This is the first time in 18 years that Australian trials for the Olympic Games will be held outside the Sydney Olympic Park.
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