Dolphins coach on alert for ISL burnout as pro league shakes up sport

April 10, 2019 By BLOGDAELLI

Dolphins head coach Jacco Verhaeren will sit down with the nation's best coaches and athletes in coming months as officials try to forecast the impact of the new International Swimming League on preparations for the Tokyo Olympics.

The sport stands on the verge of significant disruption when the professional ISL springs into life later in the year. It will feature a number of star Australians including Kyle Chalmers and Cate Campbell, competing for the various franchises in Europe and the United States.

The potential financial gain and added race experience has been widely welcomed in the sport despite governing body FINA being dragged kicking and screaming into the new era, but Verhaeren is just one senior figure wary of the impact on the Olympic schedule.

He will have both eyes firmly on the national titles, beginning in Adelaide on Sunday, but will quickly begin a tour around the elite training centres to plot the path to Tokyo and decipher the impact of the ISL, which has its finals in Las Vegas just days before Christmas.

Already, St Peters Western coach Dean Boxall, who has Ariarne Titmus and Mitch Larkin among his charges, has said his swimmers would not take part if it meant deviating from their Olympic planning.

Verhaeren sees more upside than that but said he would do everything to ensure ISL athletes were well-educated and even better prepared for the added racing and travelling load that has been added to their schedule.

"There has been quite a few conversations with the coaches and the athletes in terms of what are good decisions in this. It is a lot of travel … it’s not so much about the racing, that is a beautiful opportunity to get experience. The exposure to that, especially alongside some of the best swimmers in the world, I’m very happy with," Verhaeren said.

"It is definitely something that only works if you execute it very well. That means you have to be very mindful of the travel, of dealing with jet-lag, recovery, adaptation. Next month, I’ll be going around to the coaches to discuss the Olympic season and this will be the main topic. How do you deal with extensive travel, racing and how do you fit that in to your Olympic season?"

In essence, the ISL is no different from the ATP or WTA tennis tours, with athletes on their own outside of the Swimming Australia sphere and their regular coaches and medical staff. It's fresh territory for everyone in the sport and Verhaeren is trying to ensure SA stays ahead of the curve.

"It’s a professional league and we don’t have any input. We don’t own this. People sign up for teams and they are in the hands of those franchises. Those are things they need think through properly. A lot of racing is good but you can also do too much.

"The travel schedules, we have people swimming for the London team, New York, Washington… those are the dynamics they are dealing with.

"It’s a bit like cricket … you have Big Bash, other formats… how do you manage all of the extra competitions on top of your main focus. And make sure you don’t burn all of your candles before the season actually starts."

Verhaeren believes the ISL could not only change the way swimmers prepare for major meets like an Olympic Games, it has the potential to fundamentally change the fabric of the sport and even devalue potentially Olympic success at the expense of the lucrative professional career.

"This is new for the whole world of swimming. Nobody is looking to compromise their Olympic performance. We want a pro league but at heart, we are an Olympic sport. That may change over years; history tells us that when pro sports start, the Olympics go slowly out the door," Verhaeren said.

"Look at the road race in cycling, they want to win the Tour de France over the Olympics. But we are an Olympic-focused program. We have to ask what value we can add to that without compromising Olympic success.

"Our world of being the traditional Olympic sport, we have World Cups and a FINA Champions Series and the ISL … these meets are about racing but mostly money. They are becoming more important in everything we do. The sport is changing and it’s changing rapidly."

Australian Swimming Championships, Adelaide, April 7-12.

Key faces: All of Australia's Olympic hopefuls will be in action including hometown star Kyle Chalmers, Mack Horton, Bronte and Cate Campbell and Emma McKeon.

What's at stake: For the elite swimmers, not as much as you think. A national title won't count towards for selection for this year's key meet, the FINA World Championships in Korea in July. Most will be at various stages of training, so times may be a touch off the pace. Even so, nobody will be giving their titles away without a fight.

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