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Building community in Swimming: Communal support in coaching is a "powerful tool"

Published 1 August 2024

Aquatics GB mentor Alan Lynn has hailed communal support in coaching as a “powerful tool” - after building lifelong connections through the Leading to Perform programme.

Leading to Perform is one of UK Sport’s development programmes for leaders in the high-performance community, designed to enhance leadership potential within elite sporting roles.

And having coached the likes of Duncan Scott, Kathleen Dawson and Toni Shaw to Olympic and Paralympic success, Lynn - Head of Performance Development at Aquatics GB - knows all about how to turn his swimmers into world-beaters.

Yet while it can be easy for coaches to focus all their attention and efforts on their athletes, he believes it is vital for coaches to support each other in their cooperative push for success in the sporting world.

This was one of his major takeaways from the Leading to Perform programme, saying: “Leading to Perform was quite simply a transformative experience.

“Apart from the opportunities that we had and the people that were put in front of us to lead the workshops and the sessions, the interactions between everybody on the programme were really fantastic. 

“We built lifelong relationships and friendships to the extent that we're all still in contact with each other, and that was just as powerful as the sessions that we were part of.

“The coaching community really does need to support each other. It's a really powerful tool and, in every single sport, when coaches work together and collaborate with each other as well as with their athletes, it really does make a difference.”

Lynn has long been aware of the importance of support within the coaching industry, having made it his mission to keep coaches engaged throughout the unique and difficult circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was a contribution that earned him high acclaim from across the sporting world, upping morale of not just his GB peers, but coaches from overseas as well.

“I think I got square eyes from the pandemic in terms of how much screen time I had,” he added. “It probably wasn't all that safe for my eyesight. 

“It was something that we decided to do just to reach out and to connect to the coaching community in the way that we had to via the online platforms.

“It brought us all closer together. We had like a Friday evening session where we had coaches from all around the world coming to talk to us.

“Coaches were encouraged to bring a drink with them, if that's what they normally do on a Friday night, a glass of beer, a glass of wine, and just listen to the expertise from all around the world talking to us about their experiences in coaching. 

“People appreciated that that effort was made by folk from Australia to America and everywhere else in between.

“It was really important that people felt part of something, and certainly the online community of coaches and swimming that happened during the pandemic is something that I'm particularly proud of.”

Hear more from Alan in the video here.

Learn more about Aquatics GB on their website.

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