Our Coaches and Teachers

I am joining the City of Oxford with seven years of coaching experience, developing swimmers at all levels at Hackney Aquatics Club before spending three and a half years at Plymouth Leander as Head of Age Group.

Whilst at Plymouth Leander, I have consistently produced national and regional medallists while also assisting with the high performance and performance squads.

My interests are developing people to become the greatest version of themselves and I am excited to begin a new adventure with City of Oxford Swimming Club.

I am passionate about swimming, music, history and cycling.

Qualifications:
Senior Coach
Level 1 and 2 Swimming Coach
Level 1 and 2 Teaching Aquatics

NRASTAC Rescue
Level 2 in Understanding Autism
Youth Strength and Conditioning

I am the Head of Age coach. I typically work with swimmers aged between 10 to 14 years old, who compete at local, county, regional and national competitions.

I started my coaching career with the City of Liverpool Swimming Club, where I spent 7 years. Feeling I had achieved all I could with the club it was time for me to take on a new challenge and test my skills here in Oxford!

Qualifications:
- Swim England Assistant Swimming Coach
- Swim England Swimming Coach

Further Education
- BA in Sports Development
- MSc in Sports Coaching

Additional Qualifications
- Level 2 Swimming Coach
- Level 2 Swimming Teacher
- Level 1 Triathlon Coach

St Athan Swimming Club was my local swim club, based on a military site in South Wales (later to merge with Cardiff). In my teens I moved to the local SLSA club and began sea swimming and competing locally and nationally. I loved the social element of the club and began teaching the youngsters and working the summers as a Surf Lifeguard.

After graduating from Art College and spending many years working and teaching in the arts I came back to the water and observational training and creative thinking have been a surprising bonus to my swimming coaching abilities!

I joined the City of Oxford swimming coaching team in 2020 and took over the running of the Rising Stars (entry level) squads, in 2021. This has a talent development focus, working on stroke efficiency with an introduction to competitive skills and their first experiences of racing.

The philosophy of Rising Stars is a nurturing and friendly environment where the swimmers work hard and see progressions every week and as a result our retention of swimmers is nearly 100%.

I am also a TriFit Coach at Nuffield, a freelance School Swimming Instructor at University Pools, and I run an open water swimming group.

Qualifications:
Swim England Level 2 Teacher
Swim England Level 2 Coach
STA Level 2 Open Water Coach

My name is Megan Smit, I’ve been coaching rising stars for about 2 years now on top of helping out with the swim school lessons and some of the older competitive squads. I swam with the club from the age of 8, reaching my biggest national achievements in the long distant events with my personal favourite memory being a medal at the Swim England Summer Championships.

Rising Stars have always been a joy to work with and watching them move up the levels is extremely rewarding as their coach. I now study geography at University and have put some swimming skills into waterpolo and can hopefully teach the kids some new experiences.

I am a qualified Swim England Level 2 in Aquatic Teaching.

I have been teaching swimming for over 35 years, starting as a young volunteer for Ealing Swimming Club, then gaining qualifications that led me into my career today. I have recently become a Swim England Tutor, which allows me to be able to pass on my passion, knowledge, and experience to other teachers.

One of my roles as Head of Swim School will be to support our swim teachers and help them through CPDs. I also am a trainer and assessor for the Royal Lifesaving Society (RLSS) and have been running lifesaving course, NPLQ, NRASTC and rescue awards for over 20 years.

Qualifications:
Swim England Tutor Trainer for Level 1 & 2
RLSS NPLQ Trainer and Assessor
ASA Level 2 Certificate for teaching swimming
NSPCC Safeguarding

Having taught swimming for many years around the county, I continue to share my passion and enthusiasm to all swimmers and teachers alike.

My aim is to inspire everyone to learn to swim so they too can enjoy this wonderful pastime. Swimming is not only a skill for life but offers health benefits too and can be enjoyed by all through many other aquatic activities.

Happy swimming everyone!

Qualifications:
ASA Level Pre-fundamentals Teaching in Swimming
ASA Level 1 & 2 Teaching Swimming and Coaching
Rookie Life Guard Instructor
Swim England Fully Insured Member
Fully Licensed British Swimming Official
First Aid at Work and AED
National Rescue Award for Swimming Teachers and Coaches
Safeguarding Adults and Children
STA swimming CPD's

I joined City of Oxford Swimming Club as a competitive swimmer when I was 10 years old and have been training with COSC for the last 7 years. I trained as a swimming teacher as soon as I turned 16 as I wanted to pass on my love of swimming to the next generation of swimmers. I’ve been teaching at COSC for 18 months now, and before that I volunteered with the swim school for over a year, and I love seeing the children excited about coming to their lessons each week and watching them make such amazing progress on their learn to swim journey. Outside of swimming, I am studying for my A-levels and I am a music scholar. I love to sing and play the piano, guitar and flute.

Qualifications

Swim England Young Volunteer Award

Swim England Level 1 & 2 Teaching Qualification

NPLQ Lifeguard

IQL Level 2 award in Automated External Defibrillator (AED)

My name is Bekka Smit, I’ve been a swim teacher for almost a year now. I swam competitively with the club for 8 years, reaching national level at the swim England national competition. I love to teach all stages and enjoy passing on my passion and knowledge of swimming to children of all ages and abilities. My aim is that children enjoy my sessions and have fun whilst at the same time learning an essential life skill.

From the age of six I swam for Amersham Swimming Club, and by the age of eight I was racing competitively against other girls my age in the county area. I enjoyed swimming, and my home club holds a special place in my heart. After having such an amazing experience in swimming club I wanted to inspire and ensure that other children had the opportunities I had, so I became a swimming teacher.

Before I was qualified I had 2 years experience as a volunteer coach and swimming teachers assistant. I have been a fully qualified Level 2 Swim England teacher for 3 years now and have worked at multiple places which has helped me learn new techniques and methods to better improve my teaching.

Currently I teach for City of Oxford Swimming Club, which I am enjoying thoroughly. Alongside this I am the swim manager for David Lloyd Bicester, am a qualified lifeguard, and a qualified lifeguard trainer assessor. Additionally, I am an open water lifeguard and believe it is essential to educate swimmers on the dangers of open water.

I hope to inspire and motivate young swimmers to continue swimming into a competitive level, and teach them an important lifesaving skill.

Qualifications:

RLSS NPLQ Trainer Assessor
RLSS PXB Trainer Assessor
RLSS AED Trainer Assessor
SEQ Level 2 Swimming Teachers
SEQ Level 1 Swimming Teachers
RLSS Anaphylaxis Trainer Assessor
QA Level 3 qualification in First Aid at Work
RLSS Open Water Lifeguard
RLSS NPLQ with AED and PXB
RLSS Water safety CPD for children Aged 5 - 7
RLSS Water safety CPD for children Aged 7 - 11
Bronze Duke of Edinburgh

I started swimming when I was very young, my Dad taught me in my back garden. I started competitive swimming at my local club when I was 11 and around the age of 14 I transitioned into Triathlon where I could do all three of my favourite sports in one! I started coaching when I was 16 and became a swim teacher when I was 18. I am so excited to be joining the Rising Stars team and I hope to inspire the swimmers to fall in love with the sport too!

My swim journey began when I was eight years old when I started swimming at Corby Amateur Swimming Club, reaching regional level in breaststroke. However, I have only recently started my coaching career when I became a coaching assistant for the Masters squad last summer. The City of Oxford Swimming Club saw my potential and offered to support my Level 1 Assistant Coaching qualification and I hope to soon be completing my Level 2 Swim Coaching qualification.

I became a volunteer for COSC to create a partnership with Oxford Brookes University Swimming Club and COSC, and it has seen me coach all the squads within COSC. Recently I worked with Rising Stars Gold and I was hooked! Now I am enjoying having my own squad and helping them succeed in their swimming careers.