Helm Shares Vision to Produce Champions
When a World and dual Commonwealth Games champion, plus Olympic silver and bronze medallist, says he’s a perfectionist, you can take it on merit that it’s not exaggeration. For WAIS diving coach Matthew Helm, the task now ahead of him, is devising a program that he hopes can achieve elite success for a stable of talented Western Australian athletes.
In a sport within Australia, boasting a pedigree of international success, Helm is as worthy as any to talk about what it takes to achieve on the highest level. As an athlete, he won gold in 1993 at the Barcelona World Championships, before one year later in Athens, producing a final dive that attracted a series of 10s from the judges, as he leapt for 10m high, but more importantly, from fourth to second, to claim a silver medal, in an effort that remains a cherished memory for the New South Welshman.
And whilst diving is a sport that requires skill, bravery and clinical precision, it’s an ability to meld elements together into a core objective that underpins Helm’s philosophy towards coaching athletes.
“My goal as a coach is to produce champions and that’s what I’m passionate about,” he said, matter of fact.
In reflecting over his career and what helped him achieve the list of accolades that he has, Helm mused, “If I could sum it up into one word it would be perfectionist. I was very hard working, goal orientated, driven and those were the things that I aspired to be from a really young age.”
The serendipity of those words in relation to his coaching will be evidenced in time, but there’s no question that the same instincts will apply to the young group of precocious talents that he’s now chiefly in charge of in his role at WAIS.
Almost by way of reassertion, Helm states it as an applied belief.
“I guess I’ve kind of carried a lot of those philosophies and that mentality from being an athlete into my coaching. Some of those things that I expected of myself I now expect of my athletes.
Success ultimately however, comes from repetition of skill, executed under pressure, acquired through confidence. And it’s that last that point that Helm feels most strongly about, with the triple Olympian believing that relationship building plays a key role in creating trust that allows an athlete to improve.
“It took me a couple of years to realise that there’s more to diving,” Helm said. “It’s important to create that strong bond with the athlete and I think as I develop as a coach, I know that I need to relate to the athlete and get the most out of them but also to be stern and hard when I need to be,” he said.
With Melbourne hosting the 2016 Australian Championships next week, which double as the Olympic Selection Trials, Helm is realistic about where his squad stands.
WAIS scholarship athletes Teju Williamson, Tamara Irvine and Nikita Hains will all take part, but more with an eye to the future rather than with any expectation for Brazil. All three will tackle the platform, whilst Irvine will also contest the 1m and 3m springboard.
Helm has been impressed with the quality that his athletes possess but hopes to improve on the consistency in which it is delivered.
“I’d seen them before in competition, so I knew that that they were a good group of athletes, who were tough and capable of good dives,” he said. “They’re highly skilled but needed to improve on their inconsistency.”
“I’m looking for some really solid diving and for them to be able to trust and put into practise what they’ve being doing in the training sessions in the lead up to this competition.”
In the months and years that follow, it is this approach, that Helm hopes will enable his athletes to flourish, and when asked what he would most like to achieve over his coaching career, it is goals in-keeping with what he has achieved individually, that motivate his task.
“I’m so passionate about diving and diving in Australia so I see my success in coaching, in helping my athletes to succeed at the highest level. I’d like to take them from junior elite level and take them right through and have them win medals at Olympic, Commonwealth and World level.”
The Australian Championships run from May 26-29.