When he was growing up Scott Talbot doubted if he wanted to follow in the coaching footsteps of his parents.
“I had a good view on what that would look like and I wasn’t that interested in coaching when I was younger,” said Talbot.
Now, the 42-year-old is happy with the path he has followed.
“It’s a great job, I love it,” said Talbot, who took over as head coach of the High Performance Centre – Vancouver in August 2022. “It’s a passion for me. It’s a great job and I love it.
“I can’t imagine myself retiring from it.”
Talbot is also excited to be named to Swimming Canada’s coaching staff for the Paris Olympics. He previously was part of New Zealand’s staff at the London 2012 Games and swam at the Olympics in Sydney and Athens.
“It’s awesome, it’s the pinnacle of the sport,” Talbot said about the Olympics.
There is a different responsibility between going to the Games as an athlete compared to being a coach.
“As an athlete, you’re really just worried about yourself and making sure you’re prepared as best you can be,” Talbot said. “As a coach, you’re really making sure all your athletes perform well. A good coach makes sure all your athletes perform, not just the top one or two.”
In Talbot’s experience, a good coach manages to get the maximum performance out of each swimmer.
“There’s plenty of great swimmers who win national titles, or are on the Olympic team, who aren’t the most talented swimmers,” he said. “Their coach is obviously getting them up over more talented swimmers.”
Being an “awesome communicator” is crucial to being a good coach.
“You can go on the Internet and find a training program these days, or copy one off the people up the road from you,” said Talbot. “The main thing is how you communicate, that determines what you are about to get out of the athlete.
“If you’re a good communicator, and you have a good relationship with your athletes, you’ll probably get a lot of them.”
Talbot is the son of coaches Don Talbot and Jan Cameron. Born in Australia, he moved to Canada as a two-year-old when his father became Swimming Canada’s head coach. He began his schooling in Ottawa until his father took over with Australian Swimming in 1989.
Cameron won a silver medal for Australia at the Tokyo 1964 Games. She worked with her husband and later took leadership roles in New Zealand and found success with Australia at the Paralympic, World Para Swimming Championships and Commonwealth Games.
Scott Talbot grew up in New Zealand where he was a national record holder. He began as a part-time coach near the end of his swimming career then took on various roles including high performance coach for Swimming New Zealand. He later moved to Australia where he worked at Sydney University, and the Nunawading Swimming Club in Melbourne, which was also a Swimming Australia High Performance Centre.
Prior to joining the HPC-Vancouver, Talbot was the director of swimming and head coach of Repton Swimming Club & School in Derbyshire, U.K.
Talbot said a coach moving to a new country doesn’t necessarily need to change their style or how they communicate with athletes but must adapt to a program’s culture.
“Culture is very different everywhere you go,” he said. “If you ignore that, you’ll be in a lot of trouble because you won’t be able to get the best out of each athlete.
“I can’t be hoping that Canada changes to become more like Australia. I’ve got to come and make sure I’m Canadian and want the Canadians to beat the Australians. “
Three of the swimmers Talbot coaches in Vancouver qualified for the Olympics.
Finlay Knox heads to Paris having won the 200-metre individual medley at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships. Blake Tierney set a Canadian record in the 200-m backstroke at the 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Swimming Trials, presented by Bell, and Emma O’Croinin, earned a spot on the 4x200-m freestyle relay team at the trials.
Also joining Talbot’s group will be Julie Brousseau, who trains with coach Scott Faithful at the Nepean Kanata Barracudas. Brousseau finished third in the 200-m freestyle at the trials, earning herself a trip to her first Olympics as part of the 4×200 freestyle relay.
Talbot will also oversee the men’s 4x100-m and 4x200-m freestyle plus the 4x100-m medley relays.
Working with the relay swimmers mostly involves team composition and strategies.
“You don’t want to be telling them a way to swim during the Olympic Games,” he said. “That’s all done. It’s just really making sure they know what their roles are in the relay, where they will be swimming and what our tactics may be in the heats, what are tactics may be in the final.
“We’re making sure they’ve very clear on that, understand that, and also buy into that, because they are going to be the ones who are executing it.”
Talbot also offered advice to athletes on how best to prepare for the Games.
“If you’re going there, you’re going to be racing the best people, so you better make sure you’re bloody ready,” Talbot said. “Otherwise, you’re going to go there, and it will be a horrible experience.
“Generally, people what to enjoy the experience and the best way to do that is to be as prepared as possible.