Coaching Changes at Derby Excel

Hello

I’d like to update you on some changes to Derby Excel. 

You’ll be aware that our Director of Swimming John Adye is leaving the club, and today will be his last day with us. John has been with us since 2022, and helped steer us through the merger between City of Derby and Derventio Excel, and has been instrumental in building Derby Excel since then. I’d like to extend our warm and grateful thanks to him, on behalf of the Trustees and the wider club. We wish him all the best for the future as his career begins a different path. 

I’d like to give a very warm welcome to our incoming coaching team, who will be taking over: 

Glenn Fisher steps up from Head Coach to Director of Swimming. Glenn has been involved in swimming all his life, firstly as a swimmer and coach at Ripley Rascals, before moving to join us in 2021. He has a wealth of experience in both club and performance swimming, and will help develop the club further. Glenn will be coaching all the Elite squad sessions from Monday, as well as one National session (on Sunday). 

Also joining us is Oliver Tipping, who is our new Head Coach, and will be the lead coach for National squad. Oliver is a level 3 coach, and may already be known for you for his time as Head Coach of Long Eaton Swimming Club. Olly is currently working his notice period with Long Eaton, and will be joining us full time in February. In the meantime, he will be coaching the National squad for sessions every week. 

Assisting with coaching National squad until Olly joins us full time is Oliver Purgavie. Oli was a swimmer with Derby Phoenix, then a performance swimmer with Derventio Excel. He did a degree at Loughborough University, and coached the performance squads there (National and International level swimmers) under the guidance of Andi Manley (who will be the Team England Head Coach at the upcoming Commonwealth Games). He then moved to Winchester and was their Lead Squad coach, before returning to DX. He has a level 3 coaching qualification. Oli will be coaching National on Monday and Friday mornings,  and Wednesday evening. 

Mentoring and assisting our team will be Kevin Renshaw. Kevin is one of the most experienced,  accomplished and successful swimming coaches that Great Britain has ever produced. He’s been lead coach for GB Olympic teams on 3 occasions, and 7 World Championships, and is a mentor for coaches such as Andi Manley and Dave Hemmings (Loughborough Performance Centre coach).  We are very lucky to have him, and I’m sure his extensive knowledge of performance swimming will be a great asset for us. Kevin will be attending sessions for us every week, and will be coaching while Glenn is on annual leave at the end of this month.  

All our senior coaches are keen to mentor and help the development of our younger coaches, to ensure that we offer high quality consistent coaching to all squads, which will benefit all swimmers at the club. 

More information and updates will follow over the next few weeks. 

I’m sure you will want to join with me in welcoming our new coaching team, and will be fully supportive of this new direction for Derby Excel. 

Kind regards

Babs Ingram

Chair Derby Excel Swimming Club