Swim England Competitive Swimming Hub
Team England coaching staff out at Trinbago 2023
August 4, 2023Ahead of the start of the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games, Team England’s swimming coaching staff are excited to give the swimmers ‘the best experience possible’ at Trinbago 2023.
Swim England’s head of talent – swimming, Richard Blackshaw is Team Leader for the competition and he’s been joined by coaches Barry Alldrick and Rachael Aldington out in Trinidad.
Barry who has been head coach at Poole Swimming Club since 2014 is a previous Swim England Coach of the Year and has brought through a number of national and international level swimmers including Birmingham 2022 gold medallist Jacob Peters.
Rachael is one of the lead coaches at Millfield School and has been a regular coach of Swim England’s junior squads. She was also one of 20 coaches across 15 sports that recently took part in UK Coaching’s prestigious Elevate Coaching Programme.
The group flew out to the Caribbean Island on Tuesday and are currently preparing for the competition which gets underway on Sunday.
The trio will be guiding Team England’s swimmers throughout the event as they look to replicate the result from the 2017 Games where Team England topped the swimming medal table.
A wealth of knowledge
And with just two days until the competition gets underway Richard has been impressed with how the coaches have supported the athletes adapt and learn over the first few days.
He said: “We’re aiming to have as much success at the Games as possible and I know Barry and Rachael will help us to achieve just that.
“They both contain a wealth of knowledge of competitive swimming and are extremely passionate and motivated to support the swimmers to develop their international competition experience.
“We’re excited and looking forward to the competition and providing the athletes with the best possible experience.”
The four-day swimming competition takes place from Sunday 6 August to Wednesday 9 August at the National Aquatic Centre in Trinidad.
You can see the full Team England swimming squad here.
Image – Team England
