Monash Sport News

New squad coach

Our Head Squad Coach, Paul Richards is leaving Monash Sport. We thank Paul for his contribution over the last year and wish him all the best in his future coaching endeavours at Klim Swim Sandringham.

Monash Sport has a strong commitment to continuing quality squad swimming programs and building on the good work undertaken over the past year by Paul. As a result, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Brian Rodriquez as our new Head Squad Coach. Brian will commence with Monash Sport from Monday July 11, 2005 (the first day of Term 3).

Brian has experienced coaching alongside and working with some of Australia’s best swimming coaches and joins us from the Nunawading Swimming Club. He is currently also involved in coaching Victorian male age group State Squads. Brian has a strong passion for swimming and one of his career aims is to become a future Australian Swim Team Coach.

As apart of the introductory process, we have attached a brief profile on Brian’s experience for your information.

Brian will be at the Doug Ellis Pool six days per week from Monday to Satuday generally in the early mornings and afternoons. For specific information on when he is here or if you have any questions or queries regarding these new exciting changes, please do not hesitate to contact Gillian Forrester at the Doug Ellis Pool reception on (03) 9905 4115.

Profile - Brian Rodriguez

During his career as a swimmer, Brian qualified and competed at numerous State Championship, State Final and National level competitions. A shoulder injury ceased Brian’s swimming career prematurely, which led to him pursuing a career in coaching.

Brian’s first major coaching appointment came at the Dandenong Oasis Otters where he coached the State Level Squad (Juniors). During this time Brian was also involved in the coaching of the Casey Tigersharks Masters Squad and also played a key role in the establishment of the Monash University Swimming Club.

In 2004 Brian accepted a coaching position with the up-and-coming Surrey Park Swimming Club as the coach of their State Squad (Juniors). Brian worked closely in this role with former Australian Coach, Peter Gartrell. In this position Brian coached a number of junior state finalists, along with some of Victoria’s most promising age group swimmers.

In his most recent position as coach of the emerging State qualifying swimmers with Nunawading Swimming Club, Brian gained a great amount of knowledge from the Nunawading Head Coach, Mark Thompson. Nunawading is currently one of the most successful swimming clubs in Australia.

As a reward for his hard work and strong coaching results, Brian was the recently recipient of a scholarship from the Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association. As a result of this scholarship Brian was one of the coaching staff for the Victorian Development Camp in Queensland, where he coached along side some of the best swimming coaches Australia has to offer including Shannon Rollason, Michael Bohl and former Monash Swimming Coach Vince Raleigh.

For the last two years Brian has also been involved in coaching the Swimming Victoria 2006 Target Squad. These groups of swimmers are all National Medallists who have a proven ability at a National Level.

The experience Brian has received from these coaching positions has encouraged him to further pursue his personal coaching development and Brian is currently completing an Applied Science Degree at Deakin University, majoring in Sports Coaching.

Brian is completing his Silver Licence this year and is looking to establish himself as a coach at a National level. He is highly motivated and is looking to develop the Monash swimming program into one of the top programs in Victoria and Australia.