Swimming: Better deal for swimmers

New Zealand's top swimmers can expect more individual attention at Auckland's Millennium Institute of Sport and Health.

Under an initiative announced yesterday, and following a commitment from funding agency Sport and Recreation New Zealand, the swimmer-coach ratio will be limited to a manageable eight swimmers per coach and no more than 2.5 swimmers per lane.

The high-performance centre should ensure better facilities and individually tailored programmes for swimmers, and more focused coaches, Swimming New Zealand director of coaching Clive Rushton said.

"We have too few coaches training too many swimmers with limited access to pool space."

The Millennium Institute pool is regarded as the best facility in New Zealand and home to the highly successful North Shore team coached by Jan Cameron.

Millennium Institute chief executive Mike Stanley has welcomed the initiative.

"Our aim is to develop working partnerships with national sporting organisations so the institute's world-class environment can be made available to more athletes in more sports."