Coach Bewley works on improving swimming structure |07 November 2012

The Englishman with over 30 years experience in swimming coaching arrived last week and will be here for six weeks to gain first-hand experience of the challenges and opportunities facing Seychelles swimming.

Sports Nation spoke to Mr Bewley after he followed the 5 o’clock morning training session on Monday.

“I need to speak more to coach Barnsley (Albert) and the other coaches and have a look at the whole structure. I now understand that the swimmers start training early in the morning because they have to go to school and they also follow afternoon sessions. I also need to look at the criteria for swimmers to move up and what promotion there is for swimmers to join the setting. Until I see everything I can’t make a judgment,” said Mr Bewley.

Previously head coach of Swim Ireland and responsible for the setting up of Ireland's first high performance swimming centre at the University of Limerick, Mr Bewley has for the last few years been working for the city of Cardiff swimming club. He started gaining success with the Wigan Wasps swimming team in the early 1980s.

Here under the Olympic Solidarity’s development of national sports structure programme, coach Bewley is to return to England after completing his six-week stay and is expected to come back again in April, 2013.

With a wealth of international coaching experience for having worked at the Olympic Games (in 1980 and 1984), Commonwealth games (in 1982, 1986 and 1990), at the European Games (in 1993), at the world swimming championships (in 1991 and 1993) and at the swimming world cup events (in 1996 and 2001), coach Bewley led June Croft and Ann Osgerby to winning a silver in the women's 4×100m medley relay at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Croft went on to win the women's 400m bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA.

It is hoped that Mr Bewley’s findings and recommendations will be put to good use by the SSA executive committee which has not been able to follow the present official structure, allowing coaches to run the show whatever way they feel best for their swimmers.

As a result of this mix-up, coaches and even swimmers have been thinking of distancing themselves from swimming.

G. G.