By JARROD POTTER
A DECADE ago Casey TigerSharks Swimming Club was a humble local team without much success at even a state level.
Now the club has two Commonwealth Games medallists, three Commonwealth Games representatives and an Olympian in its midst, with more stars rising through the ranks every year.
None of these achievements occurred through happenstance or coincidence. Mostly, it came down to hard training and exceptional coaching.
TigerSharks head coach Ben Hiddlestone shared in every second of glory of his Commonwealth Games’ trio – Josh Beaver, Matson Lawson and Mitch Pratt – as their time in the pool in Glasgow reaped huge rewards.
Beaver would finish with three medals – two silvers and a bronze – and Matson Lawson earned a bronze as well to bring four medals back to Casey ARC and RACE.
What has been unearthed by Hiddlestone and his coaching staff is a swimming enclave in the south east of Victoria previously thought of as a wasteland by higher ups in swimming circles.
Seeing the first signs of senior international success for the club first hand, Hiddlestone was amazed at how far the club has come and what perseverance can do.
“It feels fantastic, and is the pinnacle of my coaching career so far,” Hiddlestone said.
“This will be a huge boost for the club, and our younger swimmers now have real international heroes to aspire to.
“There’s a sense of relief that all the hard yards paid off, there’s a sense of vindication that our ‘old school’ traditional values and hard work approach to training has been super successful.”
That old school belief is extremely hard work.
Hiddlestone’s methods were always to put more kilometres into the bodies of his swimmers than his competitors at other clubs and the dividends have become extremely evident.
That hard work was generating swimming success progressively – win by win, achievement by achievement, until the international ranks became a possibility and now more international medals are part of their gaze into the future of Casey swimming.
“The thought of winning medals at a major international competition like the Commonwealth Games is only a recent goal,” Hiddlestone said.
“We are always looking for ways to improve and take another step forward.
“In 2004 it started with trying to win one medal at the Victorian Championships but in 2014 at the Australian Champs we were focused on getting three swimmers on the Commonwealth Games team.
“After that was achieved, we quickly had to recalibrate our goals and personally that was for one of our swimmers to bring back any kind of hardware (a medal).
“To have four medals brought back to the club is beyond my dreams and I am so proud of the swimmers that have made that a reality.”
Hiddlestone’s coaching success has earned him a place as an Australian team coach at the Pan Pacs on the Gold Coast in two weeks (21-24 August).
Hiddlestone wanted to thank the City of Casey and YMCA for their support of the Casey TigerSharks Swimming Club and helping cultivate a successful environment for the swimmers of the local area.
