His first full-time role was at West Suffolk SC where the club finished top at the Suffolk County Championships and making the Speedo league B final for the first time in its history. After a successful year James moved to Assistant Head coach at the of City of Norwich SC where he took charge of their National and Regional age group programme. This was a very successful 4 years, including finishing Top Club at the Regional Championships, Top Girls Club & 3rd Top Club overall with numerous National finalists, medallists at National Age Championships, while making 1x Speedo A final and 3x National junior league Finals. 

In 2009 James took on the role of Head Coach at the City of Cambridge SC and took on the task of rebuilding the club. His time at Cambridge has seen the club transform with a steady progression in both performance at all levels and also a continuous increase in membership numbers. The club has gone from 2-3 national qualifiers to 25+ swimmers and numerous Relay national qualifications including finals and medals. Consistently being one of the clubs with the highest number of swimmers qualifying for the SE East Region Championships.

The team initially established itself in Division 1 of the East Midlands Arena League and has gone on to achieve great success in making the National Arena league Final in 2022 and the National B Final in 2012, 2013, 2019 and 2020.

James has been lucky enough to have also been selected to coach on numerous Swim England Regional and National Talent camps and attend the DiSE training camp in Tenerife.

Throughout this James has consistently provided a professional and sustainable structure to allow swimmers to compete at the highest level and to offer all members the opportunity to reach their full potential, whether that be a National Champion or swimming for fitness and mental health and believes that playing sport as a child builds character, confidence, discipline and time management skills which carries through their life and gives a sense of accomplishment.