Coach’s kids never become champions. Swimmers’ kids don’t swim. There are no sibling Olympians. Top swimmers never make top coaches.
Even separately, the above truisms are rarely breached. But one family – the McKeons from Wollongong – trashed them all at once.
And although major international honours have so far eluded siblings Emma and David, this week’s Commonwealth Games trials in Brisbane have set them on the path to new heights, both earning a ticket to Glasgow – Emma in the 200 metres freestyle, David in the 400 metres.
Their dad, Ron McKeon, a former Commonwealth Games champion himself, has been both their long term squad coach and occasional Australian team coach.
After a recent disruption to family life when Ron underwent prostate surgery, David and Emma have used the trials to get the family show back on the road.
Emma, in particular, has been shining in Michael Bohl’s Brisbane squad while dad eased off his own poolside duties. She clocked an Australian record to take out the 200 metre freestyle final, edging out Olympic bronze medalist Bronte Barratt.
David, whose world 400m freestyle ranking has been as high as number two in recent years, overcame patchy recent form to maintain national dominance in the event, finishing first with a time of three minutes and 43.72 seconds.
While genes may explain much of the siblings’ success – mum is former Olympian Emma Woodhouse – keen parental management has also had a hand in overcoming the dreaded ‘generational burnout’ where former champions can shy away from pushing their own children into the sport.
Not that the McKeon siblings have always been so gung-ho: in the past four years, both David and Emma have taken breaks to review their commitment.
When I spoke to Ron last year about the battle to keep the kids motivated, he replied “you can imagine it – coming home to dinner and there’s your coach sitting across the table, and he’s your dad…and a former swimmer!”
So last year he took the courageous decision to ‘kick the kids out of home’ and send them to train under other elite coaches. “In my multi-hatted interaction with the kids, it was probably Dad who was having the last word about their training, rather than coach. That’s probably held them back because Dads are always softer than coaches”.
On his own rise up the coaching ladder McKeon was typically modest. “Peer recognition is always based on results. I guess I can thank my own kids for much of that success – good swimmers make good coaches”.
It’s a pretty good time to be a Tasmanian sports fan right now. After years in the sporting wilderness with not much to celebrate,…
World record-breaking Australian swimmers Mollie O'Callaghan and Kaylee McKeown have headlined the honours as their sport dominated the AIS Performance Awards. Swimming won six…
Kaylee McKeown has completed an extraordinary weekend in Budapest with a third race win and the title of overall women's World Cup champion bringing…
I have always enjoyed watching running and swimming global championships as my two favourite racing sports covering sprint to long distances without the aid…
Australia's Ariarne Titmus has reclaimed the women's 400 metres freestyle world record with a stunning victory at the world championships in Japan. Titmus emphatically…
The jam-packed month-by-month quiz full of 2022 sports trivia!
