By David
Yesterday a story was published on Swimwatch called “The Six Million Dollar Man”. And it was wrong – really wrong. Goes to show you; never believe everything you read on the internet. Because in the story I said that the departure of Lauren Boyle to train in Spain meant the only swimmer qualified to swim in an individual event at the Commonwealth Games, still training at Miskimmin’s Millennium Swim School was Matthew Stanley.
Cory Main is training with Greg Troy at the University of Florida. Glen Snyders decided that Dave Salo in Los Angeles was more to his liking. And Lauren Boyle was learning Spanish and training hard in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
But the error was Matthew Stanley’s whereabouts. He’s not at the Millennium Institute at all. I’m told he too has left the Millennium Institute to train with Dennis Cotterell on Australia’s Gold Coast. Every swimmer qualified to swim in an individual event has left or never been to the government’s swim school. Two million dollars a year Miskimmin spends on that place and it looks like all New Zealand’s best swimmers prefer to train just about anywhere else in the world. Close the bloody thing down. Send Lyles, Villanueva and Renford back to where they came from. What an unbelievable waste of the tax payer’s money.
Remember when Renford arrived in New Zealand and in a Radio Sport interview saved his most stinging criticism for the standard of New Zealand coaches. Well the swim school he’s running right now is no shining example of how to coach good or even average swimmers. The rate of good swimmers deserting the Millennium Institute must be the highest in the country. The rate individual qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games have gone somewhere else is 100%. I’ve said it before but – what an unbelievable waste of the tax payer’s money.
Perhaps Renford, Villanueva and Lyles should place an advertisement on the Swimming New Zealand website calling for interested students to apply for membership of the Miskimmin swim school. The way things are going being able to blow bubbles underwater should guarantee applicants a place on the Millennium team.
Anyway sorry Matthew Stanley – I did not realise you too had left to find better coaching in Australia. I must say I think you could have found the same thing back home in Matamata. I do hope before the taxi arrived to take you to the airport you had time to turn out the Millennium lights.
