British Swimming Website - 1st June 2009

In a first for sport, Swimming has launched a new apprenticeship programme for coaches. The scheme launched by the ASA in conjunction with the Institute of Swimming (its training provider) will be offering 40 professional apprenticeships to young coaches, This scheme building on the success of the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence Programme which helped Rebecca Adlington to her two gold medals in Beijing last year and has helped more than 300 athletes like Rebecca remain in the sport.

The ASA believes the scheme will be particularly welcome in today’s uncertain economic climate because it will offer an opportunity to young people aged 16-24 to pursue training in coaching and effectively create not only a job opportunity but a career opportunity, in all the Olympic disciplines in the pool. Candidates will be taken to Level 3 qualification in the UK Coaching Certificate whilst they work in a club environment

This is the first phase of an ambitious new apprenticeship coaching programme to be launched by the ASA working with the National Skills Academy and in Phase 2 the ASA is hoping to launch a further 200 places for level 2 coaches .

Nick Sellwood, head of the ASA’s Talent Development, said: “This is a great opportunity for young people with coaching ambitions in any of the aquatic disciplines.
“We have been aware for some time that many of our top coaches have followed a development path which did not include higher education. This is an opportunity to provide a fast-track programme for young people into high performance coaching.

“The ASA in partnership with the IoS is committed to supporting the new generation of developing coaches within our Beacon Programmes and supported by the Talent Development team. This applies to all four disciplines.”

David Sparkes said: “Coaching is at the heart of the success we achieved in Beijing and the lasting legacy we can all leave for the sport is even better coaches to take the sport forward from London. This scheme based on the UK Coaching Certificate will do just that and will give our clubs the experienced coaches they need to find the next stars in the pool to challenge for gold medals.”