Greg Hodge Appointed Swimming Performance Manager
The Western Australian Institute of Sport today announced the appointment of former Swimming Australia High Performance Director Greg Hodge as the manager of the Institute’s swimming program for the next Olympiad.
Hodge, who has spent the past few years as the national coach of the United Arab Emirates after serving as Australian national coach earlier in the decade, returns to Australia with the aim of continuing WA’s proud tradition in the sport of swimming. He will commence with WAIS in May after a detailed selection process involving WAIS, Swimming WA and Swimming Australia.
“It’s an exciting position with Swimming WA and WAIS working close together from the grass roots through to the elite level,” Hodge said of his appointment.
“I see my main role as supporting what WA’s been doing so that we can continue the tradition in producing great swimmers from WA.”
The Swimming Performance Manager position that Hodge has accepted will see him co-ordinating the existing network coaches which work in aquatic centres around WA. He will be charged with supporting these coaches and their athletes, as well as their WAIS service team, with the ultimate aim of seeing WA swimmers make Olympic teams into the future.
WAIS Executive Director Steve Lawrence said it is an important step forward for the sport in WA to have secured the services of such a highly credentialed administrator.
“WAIS has a proud history of producing world class swimmers and we’re confident that the appointment of an outstanding swimming person like Greg will enable us to keep doing that well into the future,” Lawrence said.
“Greg had a ringing endorsement from many within the Australian swimming community, including the current national coach Alan Thompson, and we’re looking forward to welcoming him to WAIS next month.”
Swimming WA Executive Director David Toll agree with Lawrence’s thoughts on the appointment.
“We are very pleased to have Greg Hodge coming to work with the Swimming community in WA.
“People of his caliber are rare and we look forward to seeing some significant development through Greg’s appointment. All stakeholders agree that Greg is the right person at the right time to take on the challenges this role presents.”
One of Hodge’s first tasks will be assist City of Perth coach Matt McGee with planning for national team representatives Blair Evans and Rhys Mainstone ahead of the World Championships in Rome later this year. Both Evans and Mainstone will be making their World Championships debut and will no doubt benefit from the experience of WAIS’s newest appointee.