Swim psych left at home

Dolphins go without specialist despite team’s past

SWIMMING Australia has jettisoned a psychologist from its competition team but the hierarchy is adamant it won’t lead to a repeat of past camp concerns.

A sports psychology specialist has been a part of the team for every major campaign since the disastrous London Olympic campaign 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 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,” he 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.”

Swimmers will still have remote access to a psychologist, if needed, during meets, while a doctor is on the team.

“We do have a doctor travelling with us for mental and wellbeing matters, which is obviously a big deal, particularly these days,” Verhaeren said.

Meanwhile, Emily Seebohm will join her Dolphins teammates in Tokyo today after flying from Brisbane.

In the wake of her split with fellow Aussie swimmer Mitch Larkin, Seebohm left the team camp in Cairns last weekend to fly to Brisbane to complete her preparations as the rest of the squad headed to Japan.