That is the key thing to keep in mind and while I don’t either there is a LOT more in play here than this article alone presents.
- As great as Snell was / is from what I have seen over time he has a bias towards athletes and coaches who use Lydiard (Snell’s old coach) methods.
- I am 99.9999% sure McDonald, Ferguson and Tonks uses Lydiard principals.
- Tonk’s results have been great but McDonald, Ferguson’s have been so so.
- At the heart of this issue is an ugly public spat between Ferguson and former World Champ Ben Fouhy who just retired.
Stuff
- SPARC is a government agency that distributes funding based on performance.
- Fouhy wanted to do his own thing away from Ferguson in particular and the official environment which SPARC ok’d and funded last year. That was the first time ever as until then all HP funding went to the sports to manage. They appear to have changed that stance this year.
- SPARC can be difficult to work with but every sport wants more $ and there will never be enough.
- In my experience most administrators have the best interest of athletes in mind but some athletes and coaches don’t make the job easy and have truly unrealistic demands and expectations !