New name for national open water swimming qualification

The national qualification for coaching open water swimming has been backed by all four home countries – and has a new name.

The Swim England Level 2 Award in Coaching Open Water Swimming is now known as British Open Water Swimming after all the home nations recognised it as the ‘gold standard’ of open water swimming qualifications.

Coaches signing up for the course will acquire specialist knowledge in delivering open water swimming sessions.

It is aimed at swimming or triathlon coaches who want to deliver open water swimming sessions to a range of participants.

The newly-named course – which remains endorsed by CIMSPA (Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity) – gives coaches the skills needed to effectively and independently plan, prepare, deliver, monitor and evaluate a series of open water training sessions.

Jane Nickerson, Swim England’s chief executive, said: “We are excited to have the backing of the home countries for this qualification.

“We feel that the renaming of this qualification shows the collaborative work and support from Scottish Swimming, Swim Ireland and Swim Wales.

“For the holders of this, it will also mean their knowledge and ability to coach open water sessions is recognised with this gold standard qualification throughout the United Kingdom.”

The backing of the home countries

Alan Reed, the workforce development manager at Scottish Swimming, added: ”Open water swimming is going through a surge in popularity and Scottish Swimming are keen to support the developments to help train the coaches of the future.”

Swim Ireland chief executive Sarah Keane said: “Swim Ireland are excited to be playing a key role in helping produce high quality open water coaches in Ireland.

“This qualification will give individuals the skills, knowledge and practical experience to have a positive impact on Open Water swimming.

“Open water swimming is seeing increasing numbers every year in participation and Swim Ireland is excited to release a qualification to support the growth in partnership with Swim England, Swim Wales and Scottish Swimming.”

Jon Fletcher, head of Business Development at Swim Wales, added: “Swim Wales welcomes the British Open Water qualification and the collaboration of the Home Nations.

“We very much look forward to offering the qualification as part of our Training and Development programme throughout Wales later this year.”

Find out more

• To find out more about the qualification, visit the ASA Awarding Body website.
• To search for your nearest course, visit our Training Course calendar.