Rocco Meiring humbled by Coach of the Year nomination

He believes coaching is a team effort and that it can be unfair to celebrate just one person from a larger support structure. 

Meiring, who is nominated alongside Jason Sewanyana and Andries Kruger, stressed that he often works with athletes who have already been developed by others who have invested significant time and effort in them.

"It's a very humbling experience and I personally don't like the Coach of the Year title because there are so many other co-coaches that are doing amazing things with athletes and so on. Just because those athletes are not at the top level yet, they don't get recognised,” Meiring said. 

“So, it's a very humbling experience for me and it's something that I'm not really comfortable with because I'm lucky I'm getting the athletes when somebody else has done all the work really, really hard work in developing that athlete."

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Rising swimming sensation Pieter Coetze, who captured three medals at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, hailed Meiring as the best coach in the world. 

Meiring says he treasures the respect and gratitude from his athletes far more than any formal accolades.

"I didn't know that he said that but that is the ultimate recognition and actually the most important one in my opinion is when an athlete makes a statement like that. So, that for me is the most important aspect, the athlete acknowledging the work that the coach has done," the coach added.