New national performance director Michael Scott believes the April World Short-Course Championships in Manchester will be an important experience for British swimmers ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.

Scott was appointed earlier this month after originally being contracted as a high-performance consultant in October following the departure of Bill Sweetenham.

However the 51-year-old Australian will now remain in the top job until at least the end of 2008.

Scott said: "The [world short-course] team is a mix of youth and experience. It's an exciting opportunity and will give some feel for competing in front of a home crowd. The swimmers are excited.

"There are positives and negatives with a home Games [in 2012]. You need to get used to the intensity and pressure and there are expectations.

"But the home crowd can also lead to exceptional performances. So we need to maximise support and minimise pressures."

Manchester will see the return to the international stage of six-time world champion Mark Foster for the first time since the Commonwealth Games in 2006.

The 37-year-old athlete had announced his intention to quit international swimming after Melbourne but never officially retired.

"Mark is focused," Scott said. "He is very excited by what is happening."

Preceding Manchester are the European Championships in Eindhoven - involving a British team which will focus on relays - and the Olympic trials in Sheffield.

Scott has identified the failure to convert promise at trials to success at the Games, and believes British coaches - who he describes as "underrated" - should be free to concentrate on elite swimmers.

"We have had very successful trials but a lack of conversion," he continued. "I need to understand so I am talking to coaches and that will be part of my emphasis.

"The coaches are underrated. We need to give them opportunities: there is the talent, potential and ability there.

"A lot of them are sport development officers so while they are coaching they have other things to do.

"So, if these coaches can be allowed to focus on high performance swimmers only, they have the potential to be as good as coaches anywhere in the world."

Sporting Life / Eurosport