Coaching Staff

Head Coach

Brett Austine Our Head coach and founder of Eastlake trampoline sports, Brett Austine, has been involved in trampoline sports within Australia for over 50+ years as an athlete, judge and as a coach.

Brett’s career officially started at the age of 7 where he joined Central Coast Youth Club at Gosford under the guidance of his late father, Fred Austine. Over his 21 year long athletic career he won 40+ National titles with his first being only at the age of 8. He competed at his first World opens championships at age 13 where he finished 12th in Open Trampoline division and 9th on Double Mini Tramp. The competed at a whopping 7 World championships and picked up 6 Golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronzes!

Retiring In 1988 with a World Championship Bronze Medal for Double Mini Trampoline he began a new endeavor by following in his fathers footsteps and coaching the next generation of trampolinists.

The establishment of Eastlake trampoline Sports was created in 1986 which ran under the PCYC, merged with Lakeside Gymnastics for 5 years and in 2002 reverted back to Eastlake Trampoline Sports. Eastlakes has been operating out of Belmont High school, where we are still located to this day.

Throughout his coaching career he has guided a plethora of regional, State, National and International representatives and was National coach from 2013 to 2021.

“There is nothing so fulfilling as helping athletes conquer a challenge. Particularly when it extends the awareness of their own potential.”

Brett was also Australia’s first Brevet 1 judge and also judged at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Chaired at the 2012 London Olympics. In 2012 he received the Order of Australia Medal at the queen’s birthday honors for his services to the sport of gymnastics as a competitor, judge and coach.

“Eastlake Trampoline Sports humble beginnings were focussed on welfare and opportunity in our local community. I love that this has remained central to our core motivation while enabling our members to reach for the stars.

Brett is a Physical education and Health Teacher and has been teaching at Belmont High School for over 30 years.

Coaches

Shaun Swadling – 

Shaun started his trampoline journey at the age of 8 with his brother after watching trampoline at the Sydney Olympic Games. They both joined Eastlakes Trampoline sports and have stuck with us to this day. Competitively,

Shaun’s impressive career has lasted over 24 years with him still competing til this day. Some memorable moments being his first Senior World Championship final in 2014 and then backing it up again in 2022. He has won a total of 3 National titles and holds a number of state titles in trampoline. He competed with his brother Ty at the 2017 World Games in which they placed 9th. Shaun was named Olympic reserve for the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and has been apart of a total of 4 Olympic cycles as a senior competitor.

Now he is still jumping in efforts to secure Australia a male’s position at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. You can find him now training at the gym as well as coaching upcoming competitive juniors as well as primary school teaching during the day. He has also become a first time dad with the birth of his daughter, Andi in 2023.

Jessica Pickering-

Athlete and Coach Jessica Pickering has been a part of our Eastlake team since she was just 7 years old. She joined trampolining in 2008 after meeting teammate Ty Swaddling, who encouraged her to join the club. She was instantly hooked and has been with us for 14 years!

Jess has always had a true passion for trampoline “I enjoy the challenge. I love pushing myself to try new things and I just love the feeling in the air… there isn’t anything like it!”

Jess has attended every National championship since 2010 ( With exception to COVID-19 Cancellations in 2020) and has competed internationally since 2013 where she attended her first world age championships. That competition she also secured the bronze medal in synchronized trampoline. In 2018 she was selected to represent Australia at the Youth Olympics games where she was awarded the silver medal, Australia’s first and only individual gymnastics medal at the Youth Olympics.

“Competing at the Tokyo Olympics was one of the most surreal moments of my career. It’s something I have been dreaming about since I was a kid, I couldn’t believe it! Watching and jumping alongside some of my biggest idols who I have been looking up to my whole life is something I will never forget.”

Katherine Tennant –

 Coach and Athlete Katherine Tennant has been participating in gymnastics since she was 5 years old and has been apart of our Eastlake Community for the past 10 years! Originally from a Woman’s artistic background, Katherine started trampolining when she was 12 years old and has stuck with it ever since!

“In 2004 I watched Carly Patterson win the all around at the Athens olympics which sparked me wanting to learn as much as I could.”

Katherine has been competing in trampoline since 2012 and has even represented NSW at the National Championship 4 times. In 2014 she won her first state title and has won 4 national championship medals for synchronized trampoline.

Katherine has been coaching both trampoline and Gymnastics for 9 years now! She says “[my favourite thing is] helping athletes learn a skill that they didn’t think they’d ever be able to do and the many lifelong friendships I’ve made along the way”

When she’s not in the gym Katherine enjoys cooking, reading and swimming In her spare time. She also has numerous succulents and strawberry plants as well as two pet green tree frogs! 

Christine Swadling – 

Christine has been with Eastlake trampoline sports for a total of 14 years both as an athlete and coach for our club. She started out in Women’s artistic at the age of 7 then swiftly made the transition to trampoline at 16yrs old.

Originally starting in Brisbane she moved to Eastlakes in 2010 and has been with us ever since! A DMT and TRP super star, Chris has won multiple National championships and had competed at a total of 5 senior world open champion ships in her specialty apparatus DMT. Her highest place finish was 5th place overall at the 2014 World Opens in Daytona Beach, Florida.

She officially retired from trampoline in 2015 and she was inducted into the Athlete Toll of Honour and remains to this day as the only female with this award. Since then, she has been coaching recreation and competitive athletes at Eastlakes and has been selected at a NSW state coach and NSW High Performance squad.

Now you can find her guiding the next generation of Eastlake trampolinists and sharing her passion for the sport with her two children, who love it just as much as her.

 

Ty Swadling –

After watching Ji Wallace at the 2000 Olympics, Eastlake Coach and former Athlete Ty Swadling discovered the sport of Trampoline. Originally wanting to play for Australia in soccer, he attended his first class at Eastlakes and has never looked back!

“ I remember my first night at the club. Brett was yelling at me, telling me to go higher and I thought to myself…. this guys is insane….. insane and fun. I was hooked immediately”

This was only the beginning of an insanely impressive career. Making his first Australian team in 2002, he made every Australian team and was apart of the National squad up until his last World Open Championships in 2019. He has attended 2 world age championships, 18 National championships, 9 world open championships and a plethora of World cup’s and international training camps and competitions. Overall he has won 2 world championship medals, 1 World Cup medal, and host on international medals at Various competitions. Ty won the Australian title in men’s trampoline 3 times. He has won the synchronized national title 5 times and the double mini national title twice! Talk about an all rounder!

One of his proudest moments was winning the inaugural “Athletes Choice” award. Being nominated by his competitors for his contribution to to the sport is a sign of his respect and admiration in the community. Since then, he has enjoyed stepping back into a smaller coaching role.

“being able to bring my son and daughter into training and watching them jump alongside my training partners and coach means more to me than anything I did as an athlete.”

“we are not like other clubs. We are community driven, run by volunteers and motivated only by love of sport. We enjoy and celebrate all success… whether it be a schools comp or a national title.”

Ty still lives a fairly active lifestyle and enjoys the outdoors, camping, swimming and water skiing. Ty is head Teacher of PE at Cessnock High School.

Nathan Lewsam – 

All round super star and sporting fanatic Nathan Lewsam, started the sport of trampoline at the age of 11 and has been coaching and training with the eastlake team for a number of years!

Nathan’s involvement in gymnastics started since he could crawl and is originally from a men’s artistic background. He made the decision to cross over to Trampoline and has stuck with it ever since.

Nathan’s first Australian National Championship’s was in 2018 . Since then he has competed at a total of 4 National Championships and has recently stepped up into the international stream in the past 2 years.

“The highlights of my career [so far] would be winning nationals u13 for synchro…” . Winning this title in 2019 with his synchro partner who was also an Eastlake trampolinist.“…My favourite thing about trampolining is when you hit a really good routine or your scared when your doing a new skill…”

A thrill seeker, he is involved in a plethora of other sporting activities such as hockey and diving which he competes at a competitive level. He also is a hockey umpire.

When he is not in the gym, pool or field, Nathan also enjoys mountain biking and snowboarding in the winter, and has recently started playing basketball casualy.

“safe to say my life revolves around sport…”

“My favourite thing about the club is how much of a community there is. All the athletes are mingling and the younger athletes get to see the elite group train while they jump”

 

 

Aiden Thomas-

Aiden Thomas, is a veteran athlete, who specializes in Strength and Conditioning and improving performance. Aiden is a multi-discipline Australian Champion. Aiden and Kaitlyn have a daughter Millah and are expecting their second child in 2024.

Kaitlyn Perkins-

Kaitlyn is a sports physiotherapist receptionist, completing her studies in nutrition. She is a  senior coach with experience in Trampoline and Artistic Gymnastics. She has been a NSW and QLD State Team member, NSW has high performance squad member, National Squad member and in 2016 she represented Australian at the Pacific Rim Championships in Everton, USA. Kaitlyn a former resident of the sunshine state moved to NSW to pursue her competitive career and further her relationships with senior athlete, Aiden Thomas. They are due to be married this June.

Lauren Sampson-

Lauren is an advanced trampoline coach and judge who has been a member of Australian teams for 13 years. Originating from Brisbane she moved down to Newcastle to train with Brett , the national coach to im[rove her training with the aim of more experience as a senior international competitor. Lauren is a lawyer and enjoys coaching .

Since then, she has stepped up into the senior division where she was selected on the Australian team to compete at a multitude of world cups as apart of the qualification process for Tokyo 2020. Overall, she was ranked 7th at the conclusion of the World Cup series. After 3 consecutive world cup finals, she secured Australia’s position for the games. After a long and intense build up she ended up placing 16th.