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Shaping Potential, One Stroke at a Time
Staff Feature – Jerome Teo
Since SEA Games 2025, Julia Yeo has become a well-known swimmer for her last-minute entry into the pool for the 4x100m Medley Relay. The team won gold medal and broke the SEA Games record. Julia also broke Tao Li’s 16-year-old 200m Backstroke national record during the Games.
However, behind her strong strokes in the pool, is her coach Jerome Teo, who saw her potential, believed in her, and groomed her to hit new marks at 14 years old.
Coach Jerome is a former competitive swimmer. He specialised in the 50m freestyle and butterfly and competed actively until 2011. After completing National Service, he moved to Australia for his studies, where he began coaching. The experience sparked a deeper interest in athlete development and set him on the path towards full-time coaching.
He returned to competitive swimming briefly in 2015 before retiring from competition. By 2017, he had fully transitioned into coaching, starting at the Aquatech Swimming Club (ATS) where he built his coaching philosophy working with developing swimmers. Today, he continues to focus on nurturing athletes not just as swimmers, but as individuals.
Over the years, he has observed that strong swimmers often share common traits — coachability, drive, a positive work ethic, awareness, a feel for the water, and a growth mindset. When he first started working with Julia over a year ago, he saw many of these qualities in her.
“I saw a spark in her,” he shared. “There were many traits that made her a strong swimmer. She checked most of the boxes.”
During an early goal-setting conversation last year, he asked Julia what her “scariest goal” would be. Her answer was simple but ambitious — to make the SEA Games. While she was initially uncertain if she could achieve it, she committed herself fully to the process. Over time, her confidence grew alongside her performances.
His coaching approach is tailored to the stage of each athlete. With younger swimmers, he takes a more directive approach. From his experience, younger athletes can sometimes be overly enthusiastic, especially with easy access to online content and trending training ideas. His role is to prescribe what is best for them based on experience and observation.
With older athletes, particularly those in their 20s, his role shifts towards being a facilitator. With greater maturity and experience, these athletes are better equipped to take ownership of their training and development, and coaching becomes more collaborative.
Beyond performance, athlete well-being remains a top priority. He places strong emphasis on avoiding overtraining, managing competition exposure, teaching athletes how to handle pressure, and helping them manage expectations. He also strongly believes in helping athletes balance school, training, and rest.
At the same time, he believes strongly in giving athletes autonomy. Allowing them to learn from experiences, take ownership of their journey, and chart their own path is an important part of long-term development.
Beyond times and medals, athlete well-being is always a priority. Jerome focuses on avoiding overtraining, managing competition exposure, handling race-day pressure, and balancing school, training, and rest. He believes in giving swimmers autonomy — allowing them to navigate their own course, learn from experience, and build resilience that lasts beyond the pool.
For Jerome, coaching is about helping student-athletes dive into their potential, one stroke at a time.
Since SEA Games 2025, Julia Yeo has become a well-known swimmer for her last-minute entry into the pool for the 4x100m Medley Relay. The team won gold medal and broke the SEA Games record. Julia also broke Tao Li’s 16-year-old 200m Backstroke national record during the Games.
However, behind her strong strokes in the pool, is her coach Jerome Teo, who saw her potential, believed in her, and groomed her to hit new marks at 14 years old.
Coach Jerome is a former competitive swimmer. He specialised in the 50m freestyle and butterfly and competed actively until 2011. After completing National Service, he moved to Australia for his studies, where he began coaching. The experience sparked a deeper interest in athlete development and set him on the path towards full-time coaching.
He returned to competitive swimming briefly in 2015 before retiring from competition. By 2017, he had fully transitioned into coaching, starting at the Aquatech Swimming Club (ATS) where he built his coaching philosophy working with developing swimmers. Today, he continues to focus on nurturing athletes not just as swimmers, but as individuals.
Over the years, he has observed that strong swimmers often share common traits — coachability, drive, a positive work ethic, awareness, a feel for the water, and a growth mindset. When he first started working with Julia over a year ago, he saw many of these qualities in her.
“I saw a spark in her,” he shared. “There were many traits that made her a strong swimmer. She checked most of the boxes.”
During an early goal-setting conversation last year, he asked Julia what her “scariest goal” would be. Her answer was simple but ambitious — to make the SEA Games. While she was initially uncertain if she could achieve it, she committed herself fully to the process. Over time, her confidence grew alongside her performances.
His coaching approach is tailored to the stage of each athlete. With younger swimmers, he takes a more directive approach. From his experience, younger athletes can sometimes be overly enthusiastic, especially with easy access to online content and trending training ideas. His role is to prescribe what is best for them based on experience and observation.
With older athletes, particularly those in their 20s, his role shifts towards being a facilitator. With greater maturity and experience, these athletes are better equipped to take ownership of their training and development, and coaching becomes more collaborative.
Beyond performance, athlete well-being remains a top priority. He places strong emphasis on avoiding overtraining, managing competition exposure, teaching athletes how to handle pressure, and helping them manage expectations. He also strongly believes in helping athletes balance school, training, and rest.
At the same time, he believes strongly in giving athletes autonomy. Allowing them to learn from experiences, take ownership of their journey, and chart their own path is an important part of long-term development.
Beyond times and medals, athlete well-being is always a priority. Jerome focuses on avoiding overtraining, managing competition exposure, handling race-day pressure, and balancing school, training, and rest. He believes in giving swimmers autonomy — allowing them to navigate their own course, learn from experience, and build resilience that lasts beyond the pool.
For Jerome, coaching is about helping student-athletes dive into their potential, one stroke at a time.
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