Gold Coast trip for Fair City coach
Perth coach selected for Gold Coast with Milne and McLay
Producing world-class swimmers was not on Ann Dickson’s radar when she first entered through the doors of Perth Leisure Pool.
But this week the hard-working Perth City Swim Club coach is reflecting on a dream Commonwealth Games announcement.
Stephen Milne, a regular on the main stage, will be joined by fellow local swim star Scott McLay in the Gold Coast next year.
Former physical education teacher Dickson instructed both of the Australia bound athletes from a young age and has watched their rise to fame.
And she will be watching closely at the Commonwealth Games after being selected as one of the Scottish coaches for the event.
“It is fantastic and an honour to be going over as a coach,” Dickson said. “So much has happened since I finished working full-time to focus on the swimming.
“We have come right through the ranks together and swimming seems to have always been part of my life.
“When I first started coaching clubs I never had any ambitions to put someone to the Olympic Games or Commonwealth Games. It has just happened.”
Eighteen-year-old McLay has moved on to train with Stirling University but Milne continues to work under the guidance of Dickson.
She said: “My job has always been to take them up to the point where they are about to become a senior athlete - then they go onto university or elsewhere.
“But Stephen stayed put so I have had to develop further. You need to keep on learning and put into place new believe“I things. alwaysthat, if try they to really make want the to kidsdo something, then they can do it. That has always been my philosophy.
“Stephen making it helped because he would say to the others that you can do this if you really want.
“You don’t need to be in a fantastic 50 metre pool all of the time. It is about the work you do in the pool and the attitude you put towards it. “The key, that both guys have realised, is that this has been long a term journey and does not happen overnight. “I remember when Scott was around 11-years-old, he was bored with swimming. He wanted to go and play squash.
“But I said to him don’t just give it up yet because you can get a medal at the Scottish Schools. And then he did get that medal.
“It can be boring going up and down a pool. It’s not like a football team where you have colleagues to chat to as you play and at training.
“When you get in that pool it is head down and off you go. But this has all been fantastic and has been a dream.”
Dickson, who was also a swim coach at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, says Milne is looking sharp in training.
Previous podium places have come in relay events but there is reason for optimism that individual success is just around the corner.
“Stephen is a different swimmer this season,” Dickson said. “Last year there were celebrations from the Olympics which went on for a long time. Somehow he couldn’t get going. But this year, which is a big one, he is right on it.
“Based on performance at the Commonwealth Games, the GB athletes will be picked for the European Championships, which are in Glasgow.
“Having become a world champion in the relay, he wants to remain in that team right up until Tokyo 2020. It’s a very competitive team.
“The relay is important but he works hard enough, and is good enough, to win an individual medal. He will certainly do the 400m freestyle.
“We have not totally decided yet what else he will be doing at the Commonwealth Games. There could be a lot of swimming.
“We’ve not done the 1500m since the trials so, at the moment, it is not really on our radar for the Commonwealth Games. But we’ll see how it goes.”