Episode 11 - Alex Bailey

In this episode we speak to GB international and 3 x Commonwealth Silver medalist, Lauren Quigley.  Today with Lauren we talk about her career highlights, the importance of team cohesion, the psychological struggles that challenged her during her swimming career, her new ventures after retiring from competition (Quigley Sport), and also what it's like watching her friend, housemate, and sometimes now training partner, Lauren Steadman on Celebrity SAS.

Head coach of Stratford Sharks swimming club, and head coach on the Warwickshire county program 2019 & 20 and the ESSA West Mids team in 2020 Kim Mortimer speaks to Swim Swift Elite. We talk with Kim about her roles on county and regional teams and creating links, how she builds an atmosphere within her club in which her swimmers can thrive, her time with Mentor (& our former coach) Ian Armiger, and how she finds it being a female in what is currently a male dominated career.  We also ask her what her philosophies will be as she guides her swimmers back into the water after lock-down.

In this episode we speak with Head coach of Manchester Aquatics, Mark Rose.  Mark is a hugely experienced age group and senior coach who has been on the staff teams at both Olympic and Paralympic Games. We speak with him in this episode about his transition from athlete to coach, his coaching philosophies around not just the physical side of developing an athlete, but the mental too, any changes he would make to his development retrospectively, his experiences from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and what his swimmers at Manchester Aquatics will be doing post lockdown.

Head coach of the elite team Energy Standard, James Gibson MBE, speaks to us for episode 16 of the Podcast. Having been World Champion during his own swimming career, we talk to him about what he has transferred from that into coaching, education, all about the ISL (International Swimming League), it's aims and what it will do for the sport, how James will be guiding his athletes back after lock-down, and much more!

In this episode we speak with Kev Renshaw. He has a wealth of coaching experience and from 2004 -2016 was part of the British coaching team. He was also Head Coach of the England swimming team out at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, and has been to 3 Olympic Games as coaching staff. We talk with Kev about his coaching background and how he got to be where he is now, his experiences at the Olympic Games and how each one differed, gems of wisdom that he received from coaching colleagues and friends, and also how he looks to build a cohesive team. We found it great to hear about how Kev reads his athletes, and how he scrapped the plans for some of those athletes leading into major meets to get the best out of them psychologically.

Hannah is a triple Olympian and is on her exciting journey to Tokyo. She is Commonwealth Champion (2010 & 2014), World silver medalist (2011), European Silver and Bronze medalist (2018), and much much more. As one of the more experienced members of the British and Scottish team, she is incredibly knowledgeable about the sport and has some fantastic insights. We chat to Hannah about her Olympic journey and how she dealt with that 4th place finish, how talking to the media immediately after races can take immense composure, and also how having her Dad, Patrick, as her coach for many years makes swimming a family pursuit.

On this episode, we talk with Commonwealth Champion 200m Butterfly swimmer, Alys Thomas. Swimming for Wales, she claimed Commonwealth Gold in 2018 at the age of 27, followed by being European Bronze medallist and World finalist for GB in 2019. We talk to her about her journey towards Tokyo, that awesome swim on the Gold Coast and how she has challenged perceptions around age within the sport. We also ask her about life in Wales during the current lockdown situation, and her advice on nutrition.

Double Olympian, Double European Champion, World and Commonwealth medalist, and now Blogger, Speaker, and Mentor Lizzie Simmonds speaks with Swim Swift Elite. We cover her career from being at a high level so young and how this impacted education, pressure and expectation, an agonising 4th place finish at the Olympics, transitions into the 'real world', and finally her current roles, goals, and ambitions for herself outside of swimming.

Swim Swift Elite talks with Performance Lifestyle and Education manager at Loughborough Universities National tennis Academy, formerly Performance Lifestyle for British Swimming, Alex Bailey. We talk through his own athletic career and how it lead him to being in Performance Lifestyle (including with British Swimming), what PL is, linking academics with sport and how this can be of benefit, once again the holistic approach and what this means, the difference between junior and senior athletes and athlete centered programmes.

GB 2008 Olympian, Commonwealth & European Silver medalist and now Director of Swimming at Millfield School, Euan Dale, talks to Swim Swift Elite. We cover his athlete to coach journey, the pastoral role he had alongside coaching at Milfield, his experience of an Olympic Games as a coach, coaching philosophies, long term athlete development, how to maximise your senior career and much more.