New Singapore Sailing Federation chief executive Lim Han Ee came on board just yesterday, but the 39-year-old is confident that his arrival just before the Aug 19-31 SEA Games will not affect preparations in any way.
"It's all about the systems and processes that we already have in place, some of which have already been validated by our results," he told The Straits Times.
The former national windsurfer took over from his predecessor Andrew Tam yesterday. The latter, who assumed his role in January 2016, will join the Singapore Management University as its associate director of alumni relations.
Lim, currently on SingaporeSailing's athlete selection committee, also used to be on its finance committee.
While he hopes the sport eventually achieves success at the Olympic level, he has only one agenda in the next few weeks - getting to know the lie of the land.
"That's the main focus for me personally - to try to understand and listen to as many people as possible before making any decision," he added.
The Republic was the top performing sailing nation at the 2015 SEA Games here, bagging 10 golds, seven silvers and one bronze.
At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, the Singapore sailors won three golds, two silvers and two bronzes.
More recently, 49erFX pair Kimberly Lim and Cecilia Low finished third out of 30 boats at the 48th Trofeo S.A.R Princess Sofia in Mallorca, Spain on Saturday. The regatta is the opening event of the European season, and also marks the start of the series of Olympic-class events on the European tour.
Referring to their podium finish, Lim, added: "That is testament to the planning done (by SingaporeSailing and the athletes); it didn't happen by chance.
"Those are the good things we need to continue to leverage on, and use these opportunities to improve ourselves."
Lim, a former naval officer, is the founder and principal consultant of Emerge Performance, a consultancy that uses sports and performance psychology, among other tools, to develop winning mindsets.
He also competed in regattas in North America, Canada and China from 1997 to 2000 and dreamt of a berth at the 2004 Athens Olympics, until a back injury resulting from an accident while he was on holiday in 2000 derailed his plans.
Said SingaporeSailing president Ben Tan: "Given his professional background in sport psychology and leadership development, hands-on experience managing a crew on front-line naval vessels, and first-hand experience of the athlete's journey as a national windsurfer, Han Ee is well-positioned to lead SingaporeSailing to greater heights."
