‘There are things S’pore needs to fix’, says national swim coach Lopez

FORT LAUDERDALE — Looking like a tai chi master, with his untamed grey hair and sagely beard, national head coach Sergio Lopez is demonstrating some self-taught moves to the bemusement of those poolside at the South Florida Aquatic Club.

The Spaniard may have spent only 18 months in Singapore, but ­already he has mastered the nuances of the term tai chi in Singaporean lingo — the art of passing a duty or job to another person — using it to describe the bureaucratic hoops he has had to navigate during his stint with the Republic’s swim team.

And it has frustrated the straight-talking Lopez — who will leave for Auburn University in Alabama after the ­August Olympic Games — when he spoke to TODAY about the challenges he has faced in trying to build an environment for local swimmers to be groomed into elite athletes.

LOPEZ THE COACH

Despite the frustrations and challenges, Lopez’s stint with the Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) has been a successful and rewarding one for the 47-year-old.

The bronze medallist at the 1988 Olympic Games in the men’s 200m breaststroke, the former Bolles swim team coach was recruited by the SSA in November 2014 on a five-year contract in what was considered a coup for the sport.

Lopez had previously worked with national swimmer ­Joseph Schooling during his time in Bolles, and had also groomed talented athletes such as world junior champion Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Murphy, who won gold in the 4x100m medley at last year’s Kazan World Championships.

During his stint, Team Singapore won a record 23 gold medals at the 2015 SEA Games, with National Training Centre squad swimmer Quah Zheng Wen also making the Olympic ‘A’ cut in three events for the Rio Olympic Games. His stellar achievements saw Lopez winning the Coach of the Year at the prestigious Singapore Sports Awards on Thursday evening — his second consecutive award.

Over the past 18 months, he has also built a rapport with members of the national swim team. News of his resignation and impending move to Auburn University was greeted with tears and shock when it was announced to the swimmers in May.

National swimmer Quah Ting Wen, who is in Florida training with the swim team, credited Lopez for helping her rediscover her love for the sport. In 2014, she had considered retiring after graduating from the University of California following a rough patch that saw her miss out on the 2011 SEA Games and 2012 London Olympic Games after breaking her arm in a surfing accident in 2011. But she held on to compete at the 2015 SEA Games, and said working with Lopez had been a huge boost.

“As swimmers get older and go through enough training, most of us know how to train hard. But it’s very hard to come across coaches who are able to inspire their swimmers, think outside the box, or make them believe in themselves that they can do more,” she said. “Sergio is one of the few coaches I’ve met who has the ability to inspire and open swimmers’ eyes to the possibility of what they can do.”

WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED

Lopez spoke candidly to TODAY about some of the issues that Singapore faces as the country looks to groom its next Joseph Schooling or Quah Zheng Wen.

Chief among the challenges are: The amount of bureaucracy in Singa­pore’s system, parents’ and athletes’ focus on academic pursuits, and ­National Service (NS).

NS has been a bugbear for the coach, who had also served mandatory military service in Spain after he was allowed deferment until he was 28. To date, two swimmers — Schooling and Quah — have been granted deferment from full-time National Service by the Ministry of Defence.

Lopez had previously stated that Singapore needed to find a system that worked for male athletes, citing the case of talented swimmers who quit the sport as they did not see a future in it because of NS.

“The reality is you have a great country, you have great talent, you have people that defend your country with pride, and you need to help them out,” said Lopez. “You need to sit down in a room and (discuss it) instead of passing the bat to everybody. There are many factors that give Singapore the ability to be one of the best in the world in many things. You have the ability, the money, the talent, the people, but there are things you guys need to fix.”

THE NEXT SCHOOLING?

Unearthing the next Joseph Schooling will be key for Singapore as the Republic aims to develop its swimmers into world-beaters on the international stage.

Lopez believes Singapore has the young talents who can follow in Schooling’s footsteps. “You have two or three people who could be better than Joseph,” he said. “Joseph is ­going to write a huge chapter in Singapore’s swimming history and hopefully ignite the youth of today. You have a kid like Darren Chua, 15 years old, going 50.7s (100m freestyle) ... Francis (Fong), (Quah) Jing Wen, it’s just a matter of organising yourselves.”

The trio, along with swimmers such as Hoong En Qi, Dylan Koo and Darren Lim, are part of a squad that Lopez and his assistant, Gary Tan, are grooming for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

He added: “You have kids with talent and kids who really want to be good. Now you need to provide some sort of pathway for them, a simple pathway where people work, and people come (and train).”

BEST MAN FOR THE JOB?

With Singapore swimming’s hottest job set to be vacated after the Olympic Games, there is much interest in whom the next head coach will be.

Lopez has given his vote to a ­local coach. “I’ve told the (SSA) ­Executive Committee ... don’t hire another ­expat like me; they already have the people internally,” he said. “What they need to do is move Sonya ­(Michelle Porter, technical director) to be the mentor to Gary Tan (national assistant coach) and Richard Chng (Swimfast), all these young coaches, and develop the clubs.”

Navigating Singapore’s bureauc­racy will also be key: “What you need is a politician whom people ­believe in, who can move things, ­because that’s the most important thing; somebody who has worked in different environments. You need to bring in somebody who can work with what the Exco ­really wants, what the SSI (Singapore Sports Institute) wants, what the government really wants, and spend hours making sure that everyone works it out.”

In spite of the many challenges he has faced as national head coach, Lopez insisted he has no regrets.

“I would do it again with my eyes closed. It’s been a very good 18 months, I don’t regret a single ­moment,” he said. “I’m just sad that it’s over, and excited that I’m moving on.”

Ahead of the Olympic Games in August, TODAY is spending a week with the Team Singapore swim team in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as the Republic’s top swimmers prepare for Rio.