At the Helm: Coaching Victoria’s international team

Mathew Helm is no stranger to diving success. Having won Silver and Bronze at the Athens Olympics in 2004, and Gold at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, Helm is now helping the next generation of Victorian divers reach success on the international stage.

Helm is currently the National Coach of the High Performance Program at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) for the second time in his career, having also held the position in 2011/12.

With the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore looming, Helm is delighted to see how well the Victorian team are doing, and to be taking such a talented team on the road.

“We’ve just come in off the back of an amazing result at our National Championships, where we’ve got four of our athletes from Victoria onto the World Champs team,” said Helm, as athletes warm up behind him.

Georgia Sheehan, Hudson Skinner, Jonah Mercieca and Ben Wilson will take to the skies in Singapore, with Sheehan competing in her fourth World Championships, and the latter on debut for Australia. Helm said they were all “feeling amazing and happy” with their results before heading overseas.

It’s been a busy year for the team both locally and internationally, and Helm is mindful of how they can learn from each competition to to continue to aim for success.

“We had plenty of experience just recently with the Open Nationals which then followed into international competitions in Canada and America. So, it’s just gaining that experience and being able to compete over long periods of time. They’re used to kind of backing up and being able to peak when they need to and then have that bit of a lull, and rebuild back to those performances where they matter the most.”

Helm, a 3-time Olympian, is a familar face at MSAC, both from his days competing as an athlete as well as now coaching the team.

“I’ve been coming here since the MSAC Aquatics Centre first opened as an athlete myself, way back when I was 18, it was a very, very long time ago,” he smiles.

“It’s really nice to be back here as a coach. [MSAC] is an incredible facility [with] incredible athletes. It’s just really nice to see Victorian Divers doing really, really well.”

A highlight of having MSAC be used as a high performance and a community facility, means Melburnians can catch a glimpse of the team in training, usually on weekday afternoons. When craning towards the dive tower, folks may notice the comraderie amongst the team as they twist, turn and leap from great heights.

“Culture is really important with our program, it’s something that I value as the coach and the leader of the program,” Helm explains.

“It’s a really cohesive environment here at the VIS and everyone pitches in, everyone is responsible for creating that sense of culture and you can just see it, when you walk in. It’s also really nice when we have our interstate guests come and use the facilities, because they really feel that as well. So it’s something that I’m really proud of, and we are as a program really proud of as well.”

If you’re interested in learning how to dive, or more about the High Performance program at MSAC, head to Diving Victoria’s website here.