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SWIMMING Australia has jettisoned a psychologist from its competition team in a move team hierarchy believe will have no effect on athletes.

A sports psychology specialist has been a part of the team for every major campaign since the disastrous London Olympic bid of 2012, where the lack of a psychologist was highlighted as a major concern.

But Swimming Australia has moved to streamline its operation for major meets, leaving a psychologist at home for the Pan Pacs this week.

Team director Jacco Verhaeren (pictured) said the move to a lean team staff model should not be a cause for concern, with the psychologist on hand at preparation and staging camp.

“The psychologist has a very important role,” Verhaeren said. “But the strength and conditioning coach also has that but we don’t make them travel into competition because that part of work is done.

“We need to be prepared because the leadership (during a meet) goes through the coaches. We don’t want to change that approach.

“There’s no psychologist in the world, that halfway through a meet can turn a team around.

“It’s really the work of the coaches and the athletes to come prepared.”

Swimming Australia’s chief strategist high performance, Alex Baumann, said the aim was to build resilience in the athletes.

“When you get out there (in a major meet) you have to stand on your own two feet and deal with it,” said Baumann, a two-time Olympic gold medallist. “But it is trying to create that resilience, so they’re bulletproof when they get to that higher pressure environment.”