Chief Coach selected for national programme

Our Chief Coach is learning from one of the best mentors in the sport after she was selected for a national development programme.

Gillian Rankin, who heads up the coaching team, is just one of 24 people selected nationally having been put forward as one of the region’s most talented coaches. Swim England’s Pathway Coach Programme will include both online and face-to-face sessions sharing best practice across the country’s aquatic family.

Gillian said: “This is a great opportunity, not only for me, but the swimmers and club as a whole. It’s important to keep learning so we can develop our swimmers and give them the best chance of fulfilling their potential. My mentor Ian Wright has experience of working with international swimmers and has coached athletes who have gone on to compete at the Olympic Games and all the top competitions so we’re going to learn so much and it will be so worthwhile for our great club.”

The programme, which started earlier this month, will run for a year and include visits to theclub by Ian whose swimmers have won a total of 57 senior and junior international medals. It comes at a time when Barracudas has a record number of members with 242 swimmers across all age groups from infants through to adults.

Club chair, Jon Ward, said: “It’s a really exciting time for the club and getting exposure like this and knowledge from coaches who have operated at the very top level of the sport can only help our club continue to develop. Gillian has been fantastic in developing our team of volunteer coaches and this is a brilliant opportunity to learn new techniques to support our swimmers. The nation’s success in the Olympic Games has certainly put swimming at the forefront of people’s minds and we want to develop the next generation of swimmers right here in Leyland and it’ll be great if we can see some of our members competing at the top level in future years.”