Head Coach

Swim England; Loughborough; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job description

Organisation: Loughborough Town Swimming Club

Contract Type: Self-Employed

Qualifications: Coaching Swimming: Swimming Coach Certificate or Level 2 Award Coaching Swimming: Senior Swimming Coach Certificate or Level 3 Award

Working Hours: Part time

Location: Loughborough

Salary: £18-£20 per hour dependent upon qualifications and experience

Closing Date: 30th April 2025 09:00

Loughborough Town Swimming Club based in Leicestershire is seeking a Head Coach to lead our club and, alongside the Committee, help make the club one of the best community and competitive swimming clubs in the region.

Job Description and Person Specification

Location: Loughborough and swimming pools within the local area

Working Hours:

• Coaching Hours (Across All Club Squads); Typically 12 hours weekly (evenings and weekends) which is approx. 50% of coaching delivery across the club
• Gala and Competitions Coach Hours; Typically 160 hours annually (weekends)
• Planning, Preparation and Management Hours; Maximum of 5 hours weekly

Position Overview

Purpose

The Head Coach will play a critical role in the leadership of Loughborough Town Swimming Club, working alongside the Committee to achieve our collective aspiration to make the club one of the best community and competitive swimming clubs in the region where our swimmers, their families and our people are happy, healthy and thrive through their involvement in swimming and aquatics.

Leading the coaching operation of the club, you will be responsible for the overall environment, experience and development of our swimmers, in alignment to their own aspirations and the club’s status as both a community and competitive swimming club. You will also be responsible for leading, mentoring and guiding our coaching team who will join you in creating the fun, inclusive and progressive environment we seek for our swimmers as they grow and develop with us.

Operationally, you will lead all aspects of squad scheduling and criteria, session planning and delivery, supported by a team of paid and volunteer coaches as well as Young Volunteers. You will be responsible for overall team selection and attendance at galas as well as decisions around swimmer movement and progression. A key function of the role will be to ensure close collaboration and supportive working with the Committee, ensuring a ‘one club’ philosophy and approach.

Key Tasks:

• Lead, manage and oversee the development and delivery of the overall swimming development pathway at the club.
• Lead the overall approach to coaching delivery across the club, including coach scheduling, coach continuing professional development (CPD), session planning, swimmer performance monitoring and development planning, team selection for galas, etc. The Head Coach will directly perform the lead coach role at around 50% of the sessions delivered across the club.
• Work alongside local Learn to Swim and Swim School programmes and providers to ensure a high-quality transition for local children and young people into the club, including developing and delivering club-led provision for transitioning swimmers.
• Working alongside the coaching team through a collaborative approach, select and communicate an annualised programme of competitions and galas for swimmers across all squads, including open galas, league galas, internal galas, county/regional/national championships and others as necessary. Ensure relevancy of competitive opportunities for all swimmers, including those with recreational rather than competitive ambitions.
• Lead and manage the club’s diverse coaching team, which includes both paid and volunteer coaches as well as Young Volunteers, to ensure effective and high-quality coaching services are delivered to members across all squads. This includes the leadership of a monthly coaching meeting and associated communications and updates as required.
• Develop and mentor the club’s coaching team, developing confidence and capability across the entire paid and volunteer workforce, ensuring a pipeline of coaching talent is developed, maintained and utilised.
• Develop, alongside the Committee, the club’s approach to parental engagement, communication and involvement, leading to a positive club culture for all to enjoy.
• Develop holistic, relevant and transparent squad criteria which account for the community and competitive nature of the club.
• Oversee all aspects of squad membership as aligned to the squad criteria, including swimmer movement across squads throughout the year and in alignment to swimmer aspiration and progression.
• Work closely alongside the Committee and Coaching Team to continue to embed the club ethos, team spirit and family-friendly culture at Loughborough Town Swimming Club, further developing and maintaining the balance between supporting the development and potential of our many talented young swimmers and supporting our recreational swimmers to enjoy and foster a lifelong love of our sport within a swimming club environment.
• Work closely alongside the Chair and wider Committee to further grow and develop Loughborough Town Swimming Club in all aspects of its contribution to the local and regional swimming and broader sporting community.
• Produce monthly reporting for the Committee on all aspects of the club’s coaching activity, performance and related matters.
• Active and supportive engagement with the club Committee in all aspects of the role, including attending Committee meetings.
• Support administration duties, working alongside the Club Administrator and volunteer committee members. Where necessary, ensure coaching-related administration tasks are completed through the use of Swim Club Manager (maintaining registers, communicating to swimmers and parents, answering parent queries, etc). Ensure compliance with all GDPR and the club's privacy policy.
• Ensure compliance with all club policies, procedures and codes of conduct as well as Swim England policies and procedures (i.e. Wavepower) at all times.
• Represent the club as required, contributing to the wider county and regional swimming family alongside other clubs and associations.

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of duties. The need for flexibility is required and the post holder is expected to carry out any other related duties that are within the employee's skills and abilities, whenever reasonably requested.

Relationships

Our Head Coach will report into a member of the Committee. The successful candidate will be an integral and valued member of the Loughborough Town Swimming Club family and is likely to thrive through developing and maintaining close working relationships with the coaching team, specifically with a team of assistant coaches who will be essential to the delivery of the club’s ethos, culture, training regime and overall approach. Other close relationships will be expected between the candidate and the committee and with the range of swimmer parents and swimmers themselves where a friendly, welcoming, positive and progressive culture is enabled where all swimmers can achieve their goals and aspirations in the development of their recreational and competitive swimming journey.

About You

Knowledge and Skills:

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills for a range of purposes and to a range of people and groups
• Able to build trusting and purposeful working relationships with others; swimmers, parents, coaches, committee members and volunteers
• Knowledge of the role and significance of volunteers in the delivery of club operations
• Knowledge of databases and systems and the ability to use them for clear communications via Swim Club Manager (SCM) and data management and current GDPR.
• Knowledge of safeguarding and welfare policy, practice and procedure for both children and vulnerable adults and familiarity with the Swim England current WavePower document
• Knowledge of how to develop, support and mentor a diverse team of coaches
• Strong planning, administration and structural skills to ensure sound operational running of the junior section of the club

Experience

• A minimum of 3 years experience coaching swimming, ideally in a lead coach role
• Experience in working with children and young people
• Experience teaching swimming to children and young people

Qualifications

• ASA Level 2 Coaching Award/Swim England Swimming Coach Certificate
• Acceptable Enhanced DBS Certificate. There is a specific role requirement to have a Swim England DBS Certificate ahead of commencing the role.
• GCSE Grade C or equivalent in Maths and English; or equivalent experience working at this level
• ASA Level 3 Coaching Award/Swim England Senior Swimming Coach Certificate or willingness to work towards
• SEQ Level 2 Teaching Swimming Qualification or ASA Level 2 Award in Teaching Aquatics
• Evidence of CPD and continued learning in coaching children and young people and swimming.

Other

• Full driving licence and access to a car to enable travel to the relevant swimming pools for training and galas

About Loughborough Town Swimming Club

Loughborough Town Swimming Club is a SwimMark-accredited competitive swimming club that has been an important part of the local sporting community for many years. The club has seen significant membership growth in recent years and now has in excess of 200 swimmers from Juniors, Youth, Seniors and through to Masters. Swimmers compete at County, Regional and National Championships as well as being within local leagues, events and open meets where we are very much an active club. We manage and deliver a constant stream of new swimmers looking to join the club from local learn to swim programmes, as well as from other clubs and those joining us from the community as newcomers to the sport. Our home pool is Loughborough Leisure Centre but the club uses numerous other local pools to support its training across its junior, youth, senior and masters sections.

The club prides itself on its welcoming, friendly and community culture which balances performance and participation for a diverse range of swimmers across the club. We are seeking to continue our growth in alignment with our culture with a new Head Coach who will thrive in a forward-thinking and progressive club – taking us to the next stage of our journey.

Closing Date: As above

How to apply

Please send a CV (no more than 2 sides of A4) and a covering letter (no more than 500 words) detailing how you meet the person specification, your motivation for the role as well as two references.

For further details or if you wish to apply, please contact the Club Chair via the apply button.

This vacancy may require the following qualifications:

• Coaching Swimming: Swimming Coach Certificate or Level 2 Award
• Coaching Swimming: Senior Swimming Coach Certificate or Level 3 Award