Local coach wants swimming excellence

Coach of the St Andrew’s Dragons Swimming team, Mr Theo Verster, believes small things matter when it comes to swimming.

He said that’s the advice he always gives to his swimmers.

“I tell them to always pay attention to the little things in swimming, as those will be big when you need to pass it onto your swimmers one day,” said Mr Verster.

Having swum for 15 years in his time, Mr Verster competed in one Olympic and three Commonwealth games, and at over seven world championships in long and short course. He has been coaching for 11 years and travelling with international teams.

He has been coaching since his retirement from swimming in 2004.

Mr Verster said highlights of his career include being the holder of seven SA and African records for the long and short course.

“I was also ranked the world’s number one in the 200m individual medley,” he said.

As a coach, Mr Verster had numerous swimmers on international teams.

“My swimmers have received medals internationally in both able and disabled fields. They also held countless SA and SA age group records since 2004. I have been head coach to five World IPC world championships and two Paralympics. In 2008, I had two swimmers obtain one gold and a World Record, and one bronze medal,” he said.

In 2014, Mr Verster was selected as one of Team South Africa’s coaches for the Commonwealth Games. He became the first coach that has been to the games as both a swimmer and a coach. He also appeared four times out of the five times the country has been back in the games.

He is currently the Para Head Coach of South Africa.

If he is not coaching, Mr Verster can be found at home, spending time with family.

“Being away from home a lot and working strange hours, I try to spend as much time with my wife and daughter. We always try to do something together and try to get outdoors as much as possible,” he said.

Mr Verster said he is now working on identifying talent for the 2016 to 2020 period.

“As coaches, we always look four and eight years ahead to plan programmes. We are always building swimmers for the next cycle. I want to help Swimming South Africa to implement a structure we can follow after 2016,” he said.