Mark Plummer is a coach who leaves no stone unturned when it comes to making preparations for the big stage. (Photo: SingaporeSailing)
Mark Plummer has been to many places and seen many things. Prior to his current appointment as the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Byte CII coach, the Scottish native’s most notable achievement was his appointment as the personal sailing coach to the Swedish 470 women’s team that won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Athens
2004[Dom1] . He was also involved in coaching teams from Ireland, Great Britain, as well as Indonesia. Short on experience? Hardly. However, Plummer believes he still has a lot more to learn. This is one trait he wants to impart in his young charges as well. SingaporeSports.sg managed to get this super-busy man to give us some time to learn more about his experiences and understand what needs to be done for the sport of sailing to move ahead.
Q. What do you see Singapore Sailing achieving at the YOG?
The opportunity to participate at an Olympic Games at such a young age will be a fantastic opportunity for our athletes in terms of preparing them for future Olympic Games. Also, I hope that these athletes can use the opportunity to develop and nurture friendships with people from all over the World and learn about different cultures.
Q. How are preparations going along for our young sailors?
I think it’s always tough with younger sailors as there is so much more to develop. So even when preparations are going well, you can still see so much more potential in them to draw out and develop. My philosophy has always been about trying to do everything we can. In that sense, I feel we have been doing a pretty good job and the athletes have been training hard six days a week for the past several months preparing for the World Championships in which we competed last week in France against most of the YOG competitors. These are indications are that we are now competitive on a world scale. The months to come will be about doing everything we can and leaving no stone un-turned in our preparations for YOG.
Q. How was it like coaching a team that won an Olympic bronze medal?
Excellent, it taught me a lot.
Q. What can Singapore’s sailors learn from the elites that you have coached?
I think it’s very easy to lose sight of a target such as the Olympic Games when it’s far away – every 4 years. This is also the case for the YOG as it is a 2 year project for us which is a long time for a 15/16yr old so I would say the key lesson they could learn is doing everything you can every single second of every day to be your very best and finding the inner strength to push your limits, and always challenging yourself to lift the bar whilst keeping your end goal in mind.
Q. When do you see Singapore Sailing winning something at the Olympics? What do we have to work on to get there?
I think the major thing to work on is changing the perception of sport in Singapore. There are other pressures in Singaporeans’ lives, e.g. pursuing an education and building a career, that cause them to tend to drop out of sailing too quickly, and thus not getting enough time to fully hone their skills.
When companies in Singapore start to recognise the life-skills individuals can develop through sport and how it can be applied in the work environment, as is already happening in many countries around the world, I think it is then we will see real progress.
Q. Your job takes you to places all over the world. During this time, have you ever missed home?
I don’t really miss home but I do miss some of the things Scotland has, such as beautiful mountains, open spaces, amongst many other things.
Q. So are you going to settle down anytime soon?
Well for now I’m pretty settled down and enjoying life in Singapore. Being here has helped me to develop as a person and see things from new perspectives.
Q. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
I am really into surfing right now but my skills are pretty average to say the least. Maybe I need a surf coach?
Q. Would you change any part of your life if you got to live it all over again?
I would have studied Architecture at University. I love design and given the increasing impact of global warming, I think this presents an exciting opportunity to further develop the discipline of eco-housing.
by Dennis Saw