Coach Kable: Japanese championships opened new world to NSW young guns

A contingent of New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) swimmers were selected for the state squad which competed at the recent Japan Open at the Tokyo Aquatic Centre – and they performed brilliantly, returning home with a haul of 12 medals (four gold, five silver and three bronze). While six of the 10-member squad won medals, there was an impressive 85 percent conversion rate from heats to finals. Adam Kable, (middle main photograph) Head Coach of NSWIS’s swimming program, took time out to reflect on some excellent results, and the benefits of a trip which he says has provided numerous lessons which ought to prove beneficial as these emerging stars continue to progress.

NSWIS: You had several NSWIS athletes selected for the Swimming NSW squad that competed at the Japan Open. Were you happy with their performances?

Adam Kable (AK): It was very good. We’ve had squads compete in the Japan Open a couple of times and there were some exceptional results this year. Matt Galea [photographed above] defended his Japan Open title in the 400m men’s freestyle and finished second in the 800m. I thought Marcus Da Silva performed well in winning his bronze for the men’s 100m freestyle. We went to Japan as Swimming NSW, so it was also great to see Abbey Webb from Canberra, and Wollongong’s Jaimie De Lutiis do exceptionally well. Abbey came first in the 100 and 200m women’s freestyle, Jaimie came second to her in both of those events, while she also won the 50m freestyle race.

NSWIS: What makes Japan a good place to take emerging swimmers?

AK: There is good, hard racing in Japan and one of the advantages of swimming there is the depth in each event, it’s unbelievable; incredible. There is often only one second between either winning a race or finishing in 17^th place.

NSWIS: What are some of the lessons the swimmers would have taken from the experience?

AK: It holds them accountable to fast heat swimming because with such incredible depth, without aggressive heats they won’t be coming back for finals. It also increases the breadth of their racing experiences by racing against athletes they don’t know, and in a country that doesn’t speak much English. In saying that, it is also an easy a country for swimmers to compete in. The culture around the sport is that it’s so very well organised and swimming is massive there. Japan is similar to Australia in that swimming is a major sport. It’s a huge sport; over 5000 clubs, everyone swims, and there’s significant, big money, in the sport.

NSWIS: I remember you took Bradley Woodward and Se-Bom Lee to the Japan Open last year because you wanted both of them to get more racing under their belts before the Australian swimming team’s Olympic trials. History shows that was well worthwhile.

AK: We went as a hub last year as part of our Olympic preparation strategy because, as I’ve said, it provides competitive, hard racing but you can also get up and win. We wanted to give Brad and Se-Bom even more international racing experience and managing everything that is involved in swimming overseas. And it worked well as they both qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

NSWIS: In what other ways would you like to think the athletes benefited from the experience?

AK: There was a full broadcast production of the Open [televised live on NHK world-Japan] and that included what you could call ‘full-on’ interviews. It was good for the young athletes to experience that. It was probably the first time, for instance, that Jaimie and Abbey had done a poolside interview after they won their medals. And that would have been interesting for them because they were conducted in Japanese with a translator on hand. They also had a microphone and a camera in their face . . .  it was a perfect learning experience. The trip also exposed each of the athletes to the mechanics of competing internationally: travelling overseas, managing the airport, managing yourself on the bus and flight, getting yourself on an overnight flight. All lessons that will hold them in good stead for their future careers.

NSWIS medallists at the 2024 Japan Open

Gold men’s 400m men’s freestyle; Matthew Galea (coach Adam Kable): Galea was pressed all the way in the final, with the lead changing many times in his defence of the title he won last year. Galea sealed the victory in the final 10m, securing the gold in a time of 3:49.05.

Silver men’s 800m freestyle; Matthew Galea (coach Adam Kable): After a tough duel with some of the other swimmers, Galea rounded off his medal collection at this meet with a silver when he hit the wall in a time of 7:56.08.

Bronze men’s 100m freestyle; Marcus Da Silva (coach Bec Wheatley): After some tough morning heats in which a mere second separated the finalists, Da Silva rose to the occasion to claim the bronze medal in 49.55.

Other notable NSWIS athletes’ performances included: Jessica Cole’s fourth in the women’s 200m butterfly; Se-Bom Lee’s fourth in the men’s 200m Backstroke, and Lillie McPherson’s eighth place in the women’s 50m freestyle.

Daniel Lane, NSWIS