Our all-male coach team faces change

LOOK around the swimming world championships and you’ll see a sport that prides itself on gender equality.

In the water and on the pool deck, there are women everywhere. Or, almost everywhere. While most of the leading swimming countries, including the US, Britain and even China all have female coaches on their national teams, there is one notable exception — Australia.

Though half of the Dolphins squad members are female, all eight coaches that were selected for the next week’s world championships are male.

It’s a trend that’s been happening for years. Only a handful of women coaches have ever been picked for Australia.

The last was Tracey Menzies, who coached Ian Thorpe at the 2004 Athens Olympics, so Swimming Australia is looking to redress the imbalance.

Other countries are already picking female coaches in senior positions.

The American Teri McKeever, who oversaw the careers of Olympic champions including Natalie Coughlin and Dana Vollmer, was appointed national women’s head coach at the 2012 London Olympics.

She’s in Gwangju, as is Melanie Marshall, the mastermind behind Adam Peaty’s transformation from a skinny, shy teenager to the most fearsome breaststroker the world has seen.

A four-time British swimming coach of the year, she said there’s no real secret to the success of female coaches.

“Everyone talks about it but I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to have balls, and I don’t mean that in the actual sense, I meet virtual ones,” she said.

“That’s my philosophy for life. you’re going to go in, then go big.” If