Noel recalls a childhood with lots of mates, many of whom date from his school years and one even from his very first day of school, a friendship of 65 years duration that Noel recently tended with a visit to his friend in Cairns in north Queensland. However, the entire school experience wasn’t so joyful for Noel. His friendship group had a wonderful time enjoying suburban freedom, riding their bikes, playing football (it’s Rugby League in Australia) and getting up to minor, harmless mischief. Sports mad, on the field was Noel’s place to shine, as he played any sport offered to him and frequently distinguished himself by playing with great skill. Noel represented his school in five sports: swimming, rugby league, tennis, cricket and athletics, but despite his good intentions he never achieved similar renown in the classroom. He claims never to have been good with words and believes if he were a child now, he would be diagnosed with some degree of dyslexia, as he suffered with poor comprehension skills.

Noel began working casually from the age of 13. At this time business hours were 9am until 5pm in Australia, but some shops such as bakeries opened earlier. By the time Noel hit his teenage years, extended trading hours were legislated to allow businesses to open until 9pm on Thursdays and from 9am until noon on Saturdays. Noel worked part-time at Mr Smoothy’s butchery on Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons cleaning the store, and on Saturday mornings, with the busy trade, he was in charge of the cash register. A reliable employee, Mr Smoothy sounded out the family about Noel’s interest in a butchery apprenticeship, only to receive a resounding “No” from Noel.

Eligible to leave school at just 15, this is what Noel did, thinking to make a living as a professional sportsman. His dad had other ideas, and insisted that Noel secure an apprenticeship and learn a trade. Noel knew that flouting his dad’s rule was not an option, so he took an apprenticeship in lithographic printing and plate making, earning the “princely” sum of just $15.70 a week in his pay envelope, of which $7 went to his mother as board. To add insult to injury the family soon learnt that while the standard apprenticeship was of either three- or four-years’ duration, his was going to last for 5 years as it was controlled by Federal and not State award. Noel bided his time, worked hard, but promptly quit his job as soon as he was awarded his tradesman’s license.  He had done as his father required, but now at 20 years of age, he was able to begin pursuing a career as a professional sportsman in earnest.

It wasn’t until he was 33 that Noel decided that it was time to take a wife and start a family, although he was still in the corporate world and often working away from home.  It was a light-bulb moment on his eldest son’s fourth birthday, (his daughter was 2 and his second son was just a twinkle in Noel’s eye), when Noel realised he no-longer wished to miss out on spending time with the family he loved. He started a couple of companies but didn’t really find the fulfillment he was searching for.

It was serendipity that swimming yet again became part of Noel’s daily life. His children were taking swimming lessons in Nerang, just west of the Gold Coast, at a club run by Laurie Lawrence, a well-known Australian swimming coach who had been an Olympic coach from 1984 to 1992, and had subsequently become an informal mascot and icon in swimming circles.  Known for his pool-deck exuberance, Laurie had personally coached over 20 swimmers to world records, but in 1988 he had pivoted his interest, to launch the Kids Alive Drowning Prevention Campaign which, with support from the Australian government, was targeting water safety amongst children under the age of five. Noel approached Laurie and quickly secured a job which would keep him at home, with his family. 

Eventually, when offered the use of a pool for his own coaching business, Noel opened his own swimming club on the Gold Coast, with Laurie’s blessing. The club operated profitably until two large companies targeted the lucrative learn-to-swim market, carving it up between them and swallowing independent minnows like Noel’s club whole. Noel lost this particular business some 14 years ago, instead taking up a swim coach position at prestigious, local private school, Somerset College while looking for other jobs. Now divorced, with children who no longer needed his daily presence, Noel was free to explore options further afield, and so worked in Alice Springs, in central Australia, then in Geraldton, on Australia’s northwestern coast, where he stayed for two years.

The management of Geraldton’s twin pools, both indoor and outdoor, decided, against Noel’s advice, to shut down the indoor pool for maintenance in winter, a job to take supposedly less than a month. Noel seized the unexpected down-time to visit Vietnam. Interested in learning about swimming in the country, Noel presented himself to the Vietnamese Swimming Association, VASA, in Hanoi and asked if he could volunteer his services. As you might have guesses, the few weeks’ maintenance stretched to four and a half months, time in Vietnam which Noel thoroughly enjoyed, despite some cultural issues as local swim officials failed to understand why he would be working free of charge. VASA was happy to use Noel’s services as guest speaker and conference attendee and invited him to Da Nang to check out a group of up-and-coming young swimmers, and had him sign a memorandum that he would return to Vietnam when he had holidays. When Noel returned to Geraldton, he found the pool still not operational, and that the community-run club had experienced a leadership coup in his absence. The new President and committee wanted to completely change Noel’s conditions of employment. Knowing where he was wanted as well as where he was not, Noel promptly returned to Vietnam in 2012.

Speaking his truth is part of Noel’s personality and it would be fair to say it has caused issues for Noel at several times in his life. He admits he doesn’t suffer fools gladly and always tells the truth because he knows he won’t be able to remember the lies. So, when faced with opposition, Noel feels he sometimes has a tendency to say how he feels, then walk away rather than labour the point. Vietnam was different though. Noel had some great ideas about how to improve swimming outcomes in Vietnam, which has never taken a swimming medal at the Olympics, but implementing them was another thing entirely. The mantra of the Vietnamese swimming fraternity was, “This is Vietnam, this is what we do, it won’t change”, despite Noel seeing many avenues for development. Noel was even ridiculed by some Vietnamese who claimed he had no idea what he was doing. One of Noel’s swimmers, Phuc, supposedly Vietnam’s finest, broke 6 individual short course and 6 long course records in his first 12 months under Noel’s coaching, and the naysayers became even louder as they lost face. Modestly, Noel claims he was “reasonably successful” despite receiving awards from the Vietnamese government.

At the insistence of VASA, to calm the situation, Noel and his protégé Phuc were sent to work and train in Cần Thơ on the Mekong Delta, with Noel to coach the children at the VASA facility there. He coached a sizeable squad to the Youth National Championships, returning to Cần Thơ to a large media contingent. The squad had taken 12 gold, 13 silver and 23 bronze medals, the bronze tally less than impressive in Noel’s eye. Noel only understood the flowers and cameras when informed that the previous year’s medal haul had been four, in total. Although he loved the children, Noel didn’t like the city’s environment, with its large army base, and chose to leave after his 12-month contract ended, saying he would work anywhere else in Vietnam, just not there. While attending the annual South East Asia (SEA) Games, Noel was offered a coaching job in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where he worked for 2 years with Stevie, a memorable young swimmer with Olympics experience, as well as many others.

Noel was eventually asked back to Ho Chi Minh by VASA, but his most vocal Vietnamese opponent still had not forgiven Noel for his personal loss of face. Despite being an official member of the coaching team, Noel was still barred from travelling to meets with the team, forced to take an alternate flight. Feeling at 68 that he was getting old and cranky at the treatment meted out to him, Noel chose this as the right time to retire. While Vietnam had cared for him very well and provided accolades, Noel had not felt listened to, nor respected, not by the officialdom.

Throughout his coaching career, Noel has not sought kudos. Making kids, then their parents, smile has been his greatest life achievement. Noel recalls a meeting with a man called Richard while he was working alongside Laurie Lawrence. Richard complimented Noel on his communication style with his swimmers from poolside, for which Noel thanked him.  It was only later that Laurie revealed Noel had been speaking, unbeknown, with Richard Quick, the highest coach in American swimming, who led the American team’s assault on six Olympics from 1984 to 2004. This is an anecdote Noel doesn’t usually share, but one near to his heart. Noel has a sensational set of memories of his students’ successes, aware that as a coach you live or die by the spur-of-the-moment decisions you take. Noel will tell you, “Everything I do is for my athletes” and yet happily admits he is also a very demanding person.

Noel is thoroughly enjoying living in Khao Takiab and is slowly learning how to relax, something that doesn’t come naturally to someone who doesn’t even believe in taking sick days. Having worked his whole life to please others, now is Noel’s time to please himself, which he does with a beer and a replayed rugby league game from Australia. Noel has visited Bruges in Belgium five times, loving it not only for its fine selection of brews, but also its chocolate, which is Noel’s guilty pleasure. His dad had told Noel that there had to be something wrong with him, as he enjoys a beer and a chocolate – at the same time! It is a feat impossible for all but the most dedicated chocoholic.

Noel is a very proud father and grandparent. He generally eschews social media as often as possible, happy to use its facilities mainly to keep in contact with the family back in Australia. While on the outside he has long been a hard taskmaster, on the inside Noel is as gooey as melted chocolate.