David Proud Appointed Head Coach of Sydney’s Southern Performance Centre On The Road To Brisbane 2032

IN GOOD COMPANY: Award winning Australian coaches (L-R) Janelle-Pallister, Vince-Raleigh, David Proud, Peter Bishop-Simon, Cusack and Michael-Bohl. Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan (SCTA).

David Proud Appointed Head Coach Of Sydney’s Southern Performance Centre

Swimming NSW has today officially announced the appointment of award-winning Queensland coach David Proud to lead its highly anticipated Southern Performance Centre based out of Sydney’s Sutherland Leisure Centre.

As the new Head Coach, Proud says he will focus his immediate attentions on preparing swimmers from one of Sydney’s largest junior sports participation areas for an Olympic pathway to Brisbane in 2032.

As well as educating them and celebrating the club’s extraordinary history with such names as Ian Thorpe, Craig Stevens, Simon Cowley, Kirsten Thompson and Jason Cram.

ON DECK: David Proud, coaching the coaches at the SCTA Four Corners Session at the SCTA 2023 Conference Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan (SCTA)

And it’s who’s who of successful dedicated coaches like Greg Hodge, Doug Frost and Tracey Menzies, who laid all the foundations.

The Sutherland Shire is a thriving sporting metropolis in southern coastal reaches of Sydney and has long been a swimming stronghold in NSW – particularly in the 1990s and 2000s.

Proud, a former British international distance swimmer, moves from the Brisbane-based Swimming Australia Hub where he has worked under celebrated Olympic gold medal coach Vince Raleigh after plying his trade alongside another highly regarded Olympic coach, another Englishman in Chris Nesbit.

In 2022 Proud was named the Swimming Coaches And Teachers Association Multi-Class Coach of the Year after coaching Will Martin to Tokyo Paralympic gold in the 400 freestyle S9 and gold in the 100m butterfly in world record time.

He was also instrumental in preparing Kai Edwards for the Olympic Open Water 10km under Nesbit’s reign in Tokyo.

Swimming NSW is confident Proud’s appointment will “drive the development of swimming talent in the southern metropolitan region and bolster NSW coaching capability.”

Proud brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise garnered from that recent tenure alongside Raleigh and having played a pivotal role in coaching athletes gearing up for this year’s Olympic and Paralympic Trials, in Brisbane in June.

Swimming NSW says that Proud’s decision to relocate from Queensland to NSW underscores his commitment to fostering swimming excellence.

With CEO and Sydney 2000 Olympic swimmer Kirsten Thomson, knowing only too well how important this appointment is, having herself been a past product from the Sutherland Shire.

Thompson welcomed Proud’s appointment, saying: “David’s passion and expertise will be an invaluable asset to our swimming community in NSW and we look forward to supporting David and we are confident that his appointment will place NSW in a strong position for the future.”

Proud made his mark in Australian swimming circles when he joined TSS Aquatic in 2010.

DYNAMIC DUO: David Proud (R) with dual Paralympic gold medallist Will Martin. Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan (SCTA)

There, he led the Junior Swimming Program and mentored notable athletes such as Edwards, Jessica Walker, Emma Robinson, and another Tokyo Olympian in Kiah Melverton, guiding them to Olympic and International senior and junior teams.

In 2016, Proud assumed the role of Swimming Director at Nudgee College, where he collaborated with a team of five coaches and worked closely with the Tokyo Paralympic gold medallist, Martin, showcasing his ability to nurture talent across diverse disciplines.

Proud is excited by the move and is up for the challenge working with the group who swim under the SLC Aquadot banner, saying: “There is no reason why we can’t really build something out of Sutherland and I’m looking forward to starting and I know there is a good group of swimmers there and it’s up to myself as Head Coach and our group of coaches to develop the team and work really hard as a coaching team to get the best out of them.

“I’m keen to bring some of the history back into the club and to celebrate that initially and give the kids people to look up to and to remind them of the history of this club and the area.

“To give them someone to aspire to be and at the start it will be educating them a lot on what it takes to succeed in the sport at the highest level.

“There will be a lot of work to be done from the coaches and I’m really looking forward to starting and trying to compete with the clubs in Queensland and seeing if we can mix it with them.”

Proud reflected on what he has learnt from his mentors, Chris Nesbit and Vince Raleigh.

“I have been fortunate enough to spend two years in the Brisbane Hub with Vince looking at some of the world’s best swimmers and how they train and how they go about doing what they do. And now I’m ready to put that into practice,” said Proud.

“Their success is no fluke when you have people like Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook and seeing how he goes about doing what he does.

“He puts a lot of thought into his preparation and learning from him and looking at what he does has been really invaluable over the last couple of years….and I can take all that information and use it to develop the next generation as we look at the Olympics in 2032.”

Having built up a coaching resume across distance/open water and sprint-based pool swimming for Olympic and Paralympic swimmers has placed Proud in a strong position to steer “anyone who walks through his door.”

“You work with the athletes in front of you in and out of the pool and you develop them into what you think is the best area for them,” says Proud.

“I was a distance swimmer myself and I started with a distance group at TSS but when I went to Nudgee College, I had a lot of 100m swimmers and there was Will Martin the Paralympic swimmer.

“And I had to learn more about preparing Will and working with sprinters and I had to go out and source that information to get better…it’s about coaching whoever walks through your door.”

Proud said he would be working with the SLC Aquadot juniors and the National Age group squad and developing from within and working with the junior section of the club.

“It will be a fantastic opportunity to identify and nurture emerging swimming talent in a region renowned for its swimming prowess. If you look after the juniors and you look after the Age group swimmers then the club is going to flourish and I want to bring back that past glory and make sure people are aware of that history, it’s very important,” said Proud, who will make the move south after the Australian Age and Open Championships on April 20.

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ABOUT THE PROGRAM:

The establishment of the Swimming NSW Southern Performance Centre represents a significant milestone in its ongoing mission to cultivate high performance pathways and programs for swimmers across the NSW.

Swimming NSW Performance Centres serve as hubs of excellence and benefit from the support of the NSW Institute of Sport performance team. The Sutherland Shire Council’s financial backing and the utilisation of the Sutherland Leisure Centre multi-pool facility underscore a commitment to creating an optimal environment for athletic development.

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