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The Team

Head Coach

Ian Pope

MSC is excited to announce our Head Coach is Olympic Coach Ian Pope. Ian is one of Australia’s most successful coaches having coached over 70 medallists at major international events including Olympics, World Championships, and Commonwealth Games.

Some of Ian’s Olympic medallists include Matt Welsh, Michael Klim, Giaan Rooney, Matt Targett, and Grant Hackett. Ian is former Head Coach of Surrey Park and Melbourne Vicentre, and previously helped steer these clubs to be prominent in swimming. Ian’s primary focus will be on developing swimmers mentally and physically as a person whilst maximising their talent and potential with a focus on building a strong team culture, mental edge and training with the right technique.

Ian is excited to lead MSC to be a dominant force in swimming.
Ian Pope
Mark McGrann
Senior Coach

Mark McGrann

Mark is a senior coach at Melbourne Swimming Club, where he holds a leadership role within the coaching team. Originally from Ireland, Mark has coached at several well-regarded programs in Ireland and across Canada, including serving as Head Coach of a top-performing junior club. With a strong technical foundation and a supportive, performance-focused approach, Mark helps swimmers of all levels build racing skills, develop confidence, and progress confidently toward state, national, and international benchmarks.

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Mark
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Julie-Anne Roberts
fitzroy senior Coach

Julie-Anne Roberts

Julie-Anne Roberts has become is a highly regarded national level coach after a decorated career as a swimmer. Roberts joined MSC from Surrey Park, where she had coached several medallists at National, National Age and State Championships. During her earlier tenure at Tigersharks, Roberts was selected as the Australian Youth Trans-Tasman Team.

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Julie-Anne
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Liam Pope
Melbourne Senior Coach

Liam Pope

Liam has over 5 years coaching experience having coached at Surrey Park and Trinity Grammar School.He is passionate about supporting others both in the water and out, and has a great rapport with his swimmers. He has a great eye for the technical aspects of swimming and makes this his primary goal with the swimmers in fine tuning their technique.

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Liam
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Lucky Weerakkody
Geelong Senior Coach

Lucky Weerakkody

Lucky is an accredited Silver Licenced Coach (currently termed as Advanced) and has over 30 years experience coaching swimmers from introductory to elite levels including serving as an Australian National Paralympic Team coach at the World Championships held at Durbin, South Africa in 2006 and Manchester UK in 2005. Lucky joins MSC Geelong after being the Head coach with Kwinana Swimming club in Western Australia since July 2021 where he was awarded the Swimming WA Development coach of the year 2022 in his first year. Prior to arriving in WA, he worked as Performance Manager and Assistant Head Coach at Geelong Swimming Club and is well know for his ability to develop stroke technique as well as giving back to the swimming community.

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Lucky
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Andy Warren
Geelong Development Coach

Andy Warren

Having previously been the Head coach at Yarra Plenty Swimming Club and La Trobe University Swimming Club, Andy has a strong background with over 15 years experience coaching swimmers from introductory to elite including medallist at Australian Multi Class and Australian Age Championships.

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Andy
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Yash Patki
Melbourne Development Coach

Yash Patki

Yash is a former MSC national swimmer with a strong passion for stroke technique correction and development. He holds a Distinction in Sport and Exercise Science and is currently completing his Honours in Sports Biomechanics at Deakin University. Originally from India, Yash is a national silver medallist who specialised in Butterfly. He believes swimming is a sport of grace and rhythm, and enjoys combining enthusiasm with scientific principles to help young swimmers become technically refined. Yash aims to help athletes understand their “what’s”, “how’s”, and “why’s” - empowering them to become a “student of their own sport

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Yash
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Trent Pirihi
Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

Trent Pirihi

Trent has 10 years of experience developing youth athletes to become stronger, faster, and more powerful across dozens of sports. Over the last 3 years, he has worked closely with age swimmers, earning a reputation for helping youth athletes achieve their goals of being selected for state, representative, and national programs in their chosen sports. As the Head Coach of Inner Athlete Performance in Cheltenham, Trent assists individuals in returning to their sport post-injury and enhancing their sporting performance. He is passionate about working with youth, creating a facility and service he wished he had growing up. His coaching philosophy focuses on “filling in the gaps” and addressing the needs of athletes to ensure they can compete at their best.

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Trent
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Billy Zebra
Strength and Conditioning Coach

Billy Zebra

Billy is a highly experienced strength and conditioning coach with an extensive background in elite youth pathways across football, swimming, surfing, and more. Over the past 6 years, Billy has guided many athletes in achieving their personal goals, focusing on athletic development and injury rehabilitation. Billy strives to create a fun, inclusive, and hardworking gym environment, bringing out the best in each athlete. He also works at Inner Athlete Performance in Cheltenham, supporting athletes across all sports to advance in their training and pursue excellence in their sport.

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Billy
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Laura Marks
Strength and Conditioning Coach

Laura Marks

Laura is an enthusiastic coach whose passion and dedication to strength and conditioning stems from her experience in various sporting communities and experiences. She is dedicated to helping all athletes achieve their goals and to be the best version of themselves. Laura’s personal sporting experiences alongside her professional experiences with AFL/VFL and AFLW/VFLW athletes has driven her promotion on the importance of strength and conditioning and how it assists individuals to excel in their sport.

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Laura
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