TEMPLE Matthew

General
DISCOVERING BUTTERFLY
He initially took up butterfly because he wanted to be closer to his friends during swim training in his youth, by making the medley relay team. He noticed that with butterfly being the 'hardest' stroke, there was less competition for the butterfly leg of the relay, making it easier for him to make the team if he could perform the stroke well. "I was at a junior club when I first started swimming. At the time, me and my mate did different strokes and a lot of focus at that club was on relays. We would be in the same relay, swimming different strokes. That's another reason why I've pursued butterfly, to swim in the relays with other people." (sportingnews.com, 29 Apr 2021)

EARLY YEARS
Around age 16 he almost quit swimming after several of his friends left his original swim club in Greensborough, VIC, Australia. In the end, to make sure he kept swimming, his family decided that they would move to Nunawading so that he could train at the Nunawading Swim Club under coach Scott Talbot. To make that possible, his mother drove him for over an hour from his school, which was still in Greensborough, to Nunawading, to make it to training on time. "I was in year 12, I was at a small club in Greensborough, and it got to that stage where I wasn't enjoying it anymore. A couple of my friends left so I had to make the call to stop or continue. My family and I had a few discussions, and we thought we may as well give it a crack and move over to Nunawading. It's been the best decision so far - especially working with a new coach in Scott Talbot. I have really been benefiting from new people and a higher level of training." (sportingnews.com, 29 Apr 2021; swimming.org.au, 20 Jul 2019; upstart.net.au, 25 Sep 2019)