SEA Games: It’s all in the mind

SINGAPORE — When Spaniard Sergio Lopez came on board as Singapore’s national swimming head coach in January, he made a bold claim that he would turn the small city-state into one of the top swimming nations in the world within five years.

Just six months into his tenure, few would argue that he looks likely to make good on his promise.

At the conclusion of the SEA Games swimming competitions on Thursday, Singapore topped the medal tally for the sport with 42 medals, once again retaining its title as the top swimming nation in South-east Asia.

Furthermore, the national swim team had achieved the best gold medal haul in the history of Singapore swimming, winning 23 golds — 18 of them in new SEA Games record times — and beating the previous record of 21 set at the 1973 Games. There were also 12 silver and seven bronze medals.

In contrast, Vietnam’s swim team finished second overall at the 2015 SEA Games with just 10 gold medals (2 silver, 4 bronze), while Malaysia were third with three gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

Lopez attributes his team’s sterling success to a “shift in mindset”, citing that his swimmers can now excel in both their studies and sport concurrently, something they had not been able to do in the past.

He said: “The 23 gold medals is something good for the country, and something we need to build on. But I am very happy because of the shift in mindset that we have been able to create, within the team, and hopefully within the swimming community.”

“I came here to help create a mindset of sustainable success ... I think a job is to keep working to be excellent at the highest-level possible,” he added. “If we do that, we are going to shine sooner than we want at the Olympics level, and the SEA and Asian levels will take care of (themselves).”

Lopez, who was formerly head coach and aquatics director of The Bolles School where he coached Singapore’s swim star Joseph Schooling, singled out swimmer Roanne Ho — who splashed to a new Games record time of 32.00s in the women’s 50m breaststroke at the SEA Games — as the best example of how his emphasis on balance between training and school has yielded success.

He said: “The evolution that she has made to be able to perform at the level that she did — it’s a statement of what we have accomplished. The kids of Singapore are really hungry to be good, and let’s be honest — the kids don’t love school; half of them don’t want to be in school. So, imagine if they have a chance to be excellent in something they are passionate about.”

Lopez recalled that his swimmers once voiced their doubts over attending training sessions because of upcoming school examinations, adding that “not one of them came to me and said, ‘I will need to sit down in the next three weeks to study — can we think about how I can still train during this time as I want to excel in school, too?’”

For now, Singapore’s swim heroes will get a short break before the focus quickly shifts to preparations for the upcoming June 25-28 Singapore Open, the July 24-Aug 9 Kazan World Aquatics Championships, and ultimately, the 2016 Olympics.

“There are a couple of kids going to the World University Games as well, so I think right now, my mindset for them is for (preparations) for the World Junior Swimming Championships (Aug 25-30),” Lopez said.

“We need to do the same thing that we have done here (at the SEA Games). Let’s be realistic — we are not going to win medals, but we are going to set our kids up for top 16 or top eight, be the best that we can be.”