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My job involves leading the team prior to and during the Paralympic Games. I have to make quick decisions to avoid situations that could impact negatively on performance. These might be where training camps should take place, which coaches to take or how everything fits together. They even go down to small decisions poolside with the coaches. For example, if a swimmer flags during a training set you have to decide whether to let them rest and then redo the set, make them keep going or give them the session off.

One day I could be on a pool deck talking to a 15-year-old swimmer and his or her coach about their training and the next day I could be in a meeting with UK sport talking about budgets and funding. 'Control the controllables and don't waste time on the uncontrollable,' is what I tell the swimmers. They can only control how they prepare, focus and race, not what the other athletes and coaches are doing so it's pointless to waste time worrying about this. I never talk about winning medals with the athletes. I focus on improving individual performance.

Having the games in London is fantastic for the country. They will galvanise people to be proud of what the nation can achieve and give us a chance to develop a whole new fan base that's interested in what the Paralympic Games are all about. Seeing Rebecca Adlington, David Davies and Keri-Anne Payne win medals at the Beijing games was so special for me. They had taken part in the World Class Start & Potential Programme with UK Sport and Sport England — schemes for junior swimmers that I helped to set up. I was proud to have played some small part in creating the pathway to their success.

John Atkinson is the Performance Director for the British Disability Swimming Team.

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