Shannon Eckstein appointed high performance director as Northcliffe restructure surf sports program

SHANNON Eckstein will take on a new role next summer as he starts the transition from full-time athlete to ensure his skills are not lost to the sport.

Shannon Eckstein wins a record eighth national ironman title for Northcliffe ahead of being named high performance director at the club. Photo: Lachie Millard

IRONMAN king Shannon Eckstein will take on a new role next summer as he starts the transition from full-time athlete to ensure his skills are not lost to the sport.

Eckstein is set to be named today as the high performance director for Northcliffe as the surf club restructures its surf sports department in a bid to remain at the top of the sport.

Olympian and ironwoman champion Naomi Flood will be named as women’s head coach and becomes the first woman in the sport to hold such a prestigious full-time position.

Eckstein will head to the Netherlands for the world championships later this year and will also compete in the Nutri-Grain series next summer when he will attempt to win a record 10th series crown.

Northcliffe director of surf sports Mark Williams said Eckstein’s main role was to mentor the head coaches.

“He’s an amazing athlete but an amazing thinker of the sport,’’ Williams said. “So for him to start being involved in our program and designing all our programs for our athletes is the best any club could get.

“It’s a great set-up.’’

Head coaches Gavin Hill, Kevin Morrison and Flood will operate under Eckstein’s direction.

Hill will look after the under-14s, under-15s and under-17s, while Morrison will be the men’s head coach, with Flood the women’s mentor.

“We’re such a big club and have so many people we’re really trying to cater for everyone,” Williams said.

“We’ve won (the Australian champion club title) for 13 years and we’ve always got to be innovative and try to keep ahead of everyone else, improve ourselves all the time.

“I think it’s innovative and we’re ahead of the game,” Williams said of employing a woman as head coach, especially someone the quality of Flood.

“Our girls are the strongest girls in Australia and to get someone the calibre of (Flood) on there is just going to make them stronger.”

Flood, who coached part-time at Kurrawa this season helping leading ironmen Matt Poole and Matt Bevilacqua as well as the club’s junior women, said it had been a difficult decision to switch clubs but one that was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“I’m very new to surf coaching in a full-time capacity but I’m looking forward to getting up there and I think I can throw a few value-adding areas where the girls will embrace and hopefully that will take them to the next level,” she said.

“I’m looking forward to taking on that role of working with the girls and getting some improvements and taking it to the next level with the girls.

“Obviously they’ve got a very good tradition of ironwoman and ironman racing up there, they’ve got a lot of great competitors – a lot of women in the (Nutri-Grain) series, a lot of men in the series over the years.

“We’ve got Courtney Hancock, Rebecca Creedy, Kristyl Smith’s been there, Harriet Brown, Maddy Dunn, the names, the girls in the series are just phenomenal.

“So hopefully they’ll embrace it and we can all work together and get some even better results.

“It’s really sad for me to leave Kurrawa because I’ve got some great friends there and have enjoyed my time there and appreciate the opportunity they’ve given me.

“But for me, it’s about furthering my career and I see that Northcliffe is a great opportunity for me to develop and improve on those skills I want to improve on.”

Flood leaves for Europe this weekend where she will race for a chance to make her second Olympic kayaking team.

She said the opportunity to make the transition from athlete to coach in a sport she loved was exciting.

“I’m sure it’s going to be a huge challenge,” she said..

“But I think it’s a really good substitute and a good transition for me to take my racing experience and my training experience and applying it to help others.”