Stuart Donald
Head Coach
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From swimming competitively with Beckenham, Addington and
Croydon Amphibians swimming clubs, Stuart has always had a passion
for swimming. Having taught many children to swim in his
spare time, he undertook his first ASA Teachers' and Coaches'
qualification in 2006, quickly followed by his Level 2 in 2007 when
he joined Sutton Atlantis SC as a part time coach.
In 2009, he decided to teach and coach swimming full time,
working for Greater London Leisure, David Lloyd health clubs and
various schools/clubs. Simultaneously, he devoted time to study for
his ASA Teachers and Coaches Level 3 qualification, achieving this
in 2010.
He was subsequently appointed Joint Head Coach of Sutton
Atlantis SC, guiding the club to many county and regional successes
with minimal resources.
In March 2014, he joined the coaching team at Guildford City SC,
gaining valuable experience at a high level. In July of the same
year, he took on the additional role of head coach at Elmbridge
Phoenix as part of the ‘Pathway’ between the two clubs
whilst continuing to work part-time for Guildford City SC with the
High Performance and Competitive Development squads. This
successful arrangement was officially ended in July 2017 when
Stuart was asked by the committee at Elmbridge Phoenix to take on
the role as Head Coach full time, and the club has continued to go
from strength to strength.
With an ever-growing membership of swimmers aspiring for success
at the highest level, Stuart works with a great group of committed
coaches. Together with the dedicated committee at EPSC that share a
combined vision, Stuart and his coaching team aim to achieve
success at all levels in our sport and to continue guiding many
athletes to compete and succeed all the way up to National and Para
National level.
Despite the challenges of Covid 19 and the devastating effects
on the swimming community, Stuart and the team are excited to be
back striving to help EPSC swimmers achieve their goals and again
pushing for County, Regional and National honours once again.
Glen Melson
Lead Coach
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Glen has been a member of Elmbridge Phoenix since 2003. He has
swum competitively for 15 years, going to the National
championships on multiple occasions.
In 2015, Glen graduated from Loughborough University with a BSc in
Sports and Exercise Science. During his time at Loughborough, he
swum for the university team. After graduating from
university, he became an ASA level 2 teacher of aquatics, as well
as an ASA level 2 swimming coach. He has been able to use his
previous knowledge and experience of competitive swimming to
benefit others in the club. As well as being the Assistant Head
Coach, Glen is the Lead Coach for Junior Performance Squad.
Glens passion for exercise and health lead him to completing NASM
Level 3 Personal Trainer course. He now instructs the land
conditioning sessions for the Seniors and Juniors, developing core
strength, flexibility and mobility. In addition to this, he works
in the gym with the senior swimmers to increase aerobic fitness,
muscular strength and power, to improve performance.
As well as working at Elmbridge he also coaches at ACS
International School in Cobham. His active lifestyle has meant he
can represent the club and compete at team events, as well as
swimming individually at counties and regionals. He hopes his
sporting achievements can motivate younger swimmers to develop as
athletes and encourage them to improve.
Duncan Harding
Land Training Coach
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Strength and conditioning training is
central to the long-term development of our swimmers, and as one of
our land training coaches, Duncan plays a key role in our
programme.
Duncan gained a degree in Physical
Geography at the University of Portsmouth, and, after university,
qualified as both a personal trainer and sports massage therapist.
He has since worked with elite level rugby players (at the
Premiership side, London Irish) and cyclists. He uses the extensive
knowledge and understanding of the human body he has gained through
his work outside the club to develop the strength and conditioning
bases of our swimmers, and to raise their levels of overall
fitness.
He is passionate about improving an
individual's health and well being, something which he demonstrated
to great effect when he helped keep our swimmers physically fit and
mentally engaged as preparation for their return to the pool by
regularly holding the club's land training sessions via Zoom during
the pandemic-enforced lockdowns.
