Diving Australia has today announced that WAIS Head Coach Mathew Helm, will relocate to Melbourne to take up the role of Acting National Coach, Melbourne.

With the postponement of the Tokyo Olympic Games to July 2021, it was felt that the temporary arrangements put in place earlier this year, with Andy Banks relocating to Adelaide, was not in the best interests of Melbourne based athletes to be extended for an additional 12 months. Especially with the additional impact of Covid-19 on the ability of athletes and coaches to travel freely around Australia.
 

Mathew has served a strong apprenticeship to now lead the Melbourne Program, with stints previously as QAS Coach, VIS Coach and for the last 5 years, WAIS Head Coach.
 

In announcing the change, Mathew gave thanks to WAIS – “I have loved my time in Perth and sincerely thank WAIS, and particularly Steve Lawrence, Jo Richards and Neill Potts, for their great support. The staff I have worked with at WAIS have been top notch and I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have worked with amazing athletes in my time in Perth. I hope I have helped them in some small way and I am confident that they will go from strength to strength. I’d also like to thank Steven Rose and all at Diving WA for their great support as well”.
 

Diving Australia General Manager, High Performance and Pathways, Steve Foley said “Mathew has proven himself to be an excellent asset for Australian Diving and we believe strongly that he will now be a great asset for Melbourne”. Turning his mind to Melbourne, Mathew Helm said “The VIS is an excellent Institute and Diving Victoria a very strong State Association and I am looking forward to working with them for the betterment of Diving in Victoria. Mostly though, I am really looking forward to working with the Melbourne based athletes and coaches. There are some amazing athletes in Melbourne and I want to form a great partnership with them, and help them any way I can to reach their goals”.
 

Andy Banks will still be connected with Victoria through interaction with Mathew, but he will now, through to the Tokyo Olympics, be Co-National Coach, Adelaide, with Rick Schavone.
 

The WAIS Head Coach role will be advertised shortly. Once that process is underway, the timing of Mathew’s move to Melbourne will become clearer.
 

Should anyone have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to contact Steve Foley (steve@diving.org.au) or David Bell (david@diving.org.au) on 07 3823 1444.