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SINGAPORE: He is one of the biggest names in Singapore sport - swimmer Ang Peng Siong looms large in the country's Hall of Fame.
The three-time Sportsman of the Year is set to make a splash once again.
In a first for the sport, Ang, 46, has been appointed national head coach by the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA). Previously, the SSA appointed elite-level head coaches only on a competition-by-competition basis.
The national sports association revealed the appointment at a media briefing on Saturday to announce their new high performance team.
Said SSA vice president (swimming), Grace Cheong: "More than 20 records were broken at the recent 40th Singapore National Age-Group Swimming Championships, and the standard of swimming in Singapore has risen.
"Our intention is to bring together the wealth of talent to ensure further success. I think the time is right to appoint a local coach to the position of head coach.
"Peng Siong is a great swimmer and has led a number of teams on national campaigns. It's a national calling for him, and he's decided to take it up for the sake of Singapore."
The four-member high performance team is made up of Ang, high performance director Wen Xing Long, national assistant head coach Carol Capitani and high performance manager Aloysius Yeo.
World renowned swimming coach Bill Sweetenham, who helped Australia develop champions like Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, will act as the team's technical adviser.
Ang's contract with SSA is for four years, and Capitani, who helped the University of Georgia women's team to four NCAA championship titles as their assistant coach, will be on a two-year contract.
The team's main task is to work with the 20 local swimming clubs and the Singapore Sports School on their training programmes and to identify and groom athletes for success at major meets like the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and SEA Games. Visits to the clubs and their associates will be conducted to monitor and analyse the swimmers' progress and performances.
According to the SSA, centralised training sessions and fortnightly/monthly training camps will also be held.
Ang is well aware that the programme could meet with resistance from club coaches. He said: "There's a wealth of coaching talent in Singapore ... with the expertise of the coaches in the team and Bill as our technical adviser, I see my role as leading the team to our required success.
"We're all about being inclusive, and I see my role as a value added one to ensure athletes and coaches get what they need," the managing director of APS Swim School added.
Ang clocked the world's fastest time of 22.69 seconds in the 50-metre freestyle in 1982 and struck a gold medal in the 100m freestyle at the Asian Games in New Delhi that same year. Two years later, he won the 100m freestyle B final at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Ang struck gold eight times at six SEA Games, from 1983 to 1993.
The two-time Olympian (1984, 1988) is no stranger on the coaching scene, having tutored national swimmers like Bryan Tay, 2008 Olympic 100m butterfly finalist Tao Li and 2008 Paralympic gold medallist Yip Pin Xiu.
Said Sweetenham: "Singapore's coaching standards have improved a lot in the last 12 to 18 months and there's an influx of coaching talent ... you have eight coaches achieving international success with their athletes, and about five good local coaches. You have to find a way to stimulate people like David Lim and See Puay Kheng and get coaches like that on deck."
Ace Swim Club head coach See applauded the SSA's new coaching structure. "Previously, there was no head coach to chart the direction for swimming ... SSA have made a good move," said the 50-year-old. "I've known Peng Siong since the 1980s, he's well known in the country and he'll do a lot of good for Singapore swimming."
"The focus for Singapore must be on the Asian Games, and not the SEA Games. Singapore must look to increasing its quality and quantity of swimmers. It may be impossible to challenge China or Japan ... but that doesn't mean you can't have more Joscelin Yeo(s), Ting Wen(s) and Tao Li(s)," said Australia's swimming guru Sweetenham. - TODAY
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