The High Performance Pathways (HPP) Program is designed to support athletes, coaches and support staff across the Olympic Pool, Open Water and Paralympic disciplines. The HPP team and program are part of the Swimming Australia High Performance unit and play a key role in the development of all key participants.
The High Performance Pathway Program is lead by the National Youth Coach (NYC) Simon Cusack (pictured to the left). Simon was appointed as NYC in January 2025 following many years as one of Australia’s leading International coaches where he worked with many athletes including Cate and Bronte Campbell. He has also led several recent campaigns including the Australian Junior team to the 2023 World Junior Championships in Israel and the Australian Senior team to the 2024 World Short Course Championships in Budapest.
National Teams Support Coach, Leigh Nugent also plays a critical role in the HPP team. Leigh’s involvement with Australian teams for more than 25 years provides the team with unparalleled experience, knowledge and support and Leigh works closely with Simon and Head Coach Rohan Taylor throughout the year.
In a boost to the HPP team Olympic gold medal winning coach Tracey Menzies-Stegbauer was appointed as the Performance Coach Development Lead in January 2025. Tracey has a lot of experience mentoring, guiding and assisting coaches in their development and plays a critical role in the HPP team.
Playing a crucial role in the HPP team is Hayley Van Den Boom. As the High Performance Pathway Operations Lead, Hayley oversees the logistics behind all activities completed in the HPP program and is a critical leader and key contact for all HPP camps and international tours.
Key HPP activities:
- Provide an integrated High Performance Pathway Program that identifies targeted athletes, coaches and support staff for development to support the current and next generation swimmers who are (or have potential) to be individual medallists.
- Implement learning opportunities and experiences supported by follow up debriefs and monitoring by experiences coaches and performance support to ensure desired learning objectives are achieved.
- Work effectively with our partners to ensure the development of identified coaches, swimmers and Performance Support staff.
- Deliver NextGen Camps focused on the development of coaches, swimmers and staff to be Dolphin ready, preparing swimmers capable of international performance, especially in form events (breaststroke, butterfly & backstroke).
- Provide targeted and purposeful interstate and international competition experiences focused on learning and developing the performance processes necessary to perform an international stage.
- Identified and targeted programs to develop female coaches, especially early career female coaches to support their career path into high performance.
- Provide direction and support to the State Flipper programs to ensure camp and coach development activities are targeted in the right areas to ensure the State’s are developing an oversupply of national performers (swimmers, coaches and staff) preparing them for the High Performance Pathway programs.
