Stuart McCrea - Head Coach

I started my journey with Leatherhead Swimming Club when I joined as a 7 year old way back in 1993, staring with the club’s learn to swim programme.

As a youngster, I qualified and competed at a number of County and Regional Championships, often finding great success in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly events. I progressed to qualify for National and British Championships, including a Commonwealth and Olympics trial.

My attention turned to coaching in my mid-teens, securing my ASA Level 1 and Level 2 Teaching certification, allowing me to work with some of LSC’s junior swimmers whilst continuing my own training. Having passed my Level 1 and Level 2 Coaching awards, in 2008 I headed up my own squad for the first time.

In 2009 I started my new role as Assistant Head Coach, alongside newly appointed Head Coach, David Vine. This was my first opportunity to solely create a programme designed to develop the club’s elite young swimmers. Progressing as a coach, I achieved the highest coaching qualification available, the Swim England Senior Coach Certificate.

Throughout this time, I have coached swimmers to success at County, Regional and National Level, placing a number of Swimmers of Swim England Development Programmes. As a result, I have been given opportunities to participate as part of the coaching setup on these Swim England Programmes, taking on roles such and County and Regional head coach.

More recently, I was accepted as one of 24 coaches across all aquatics disciplines to be part of Swim England’s Pathway Coach Programme, a programme to help me develop further as a coach.

In 2017, I joined the coaching team at ACS International School, Cobham. Being at an international school, I have had the opportunity to work with a wide number of athletes stemming from a range of different backgrounds and with different achievements at National and International level

This provided me with the opportunity to attend the recent World Championships, in Budapest, as the lead coach for the island nation of Turks and Caicos.

As a coach, I strive to pass on my knowledge and experiences as a swimmer on to any athlete I work with, so that they can unlock their full potential.

I am looking forward to seeing this club continue to grow and am excited about what the future holds.

Dan Burnham - Regional & National Development Coach

I was first introduced to competitive swimming at 10 years old, in 2006, when I joined my local swimming club. Throughout my childhood competing frequently at county and regional level predominantly as a freestyle and butterfly swimmer. I swam competitively until the age of 18, competing up to National level in 100m Fly.

At the age of 15 I began to help with my club’s learn-to-swim programme. I fell in love with teaching very quickly so, after I qualified as a level 1 teacher at 16, began to teach my own classes and assist with the younger squads. I continued my own training until leaving for university.

I continued to teach swimming while at university and, after returning, began coaching a master’s squad. Alongside various other work, I started spending more time with the competitive squads, leading sessions with different groups throughout the week. As my involvement with coaching continued to increase my career focus shifted and I decided to pursue coaching full time, joining Epsom College as their swimming coach in 2019.

In 2020, after the sudden departure of the Head Coach at my club, I found myself responsible for several squads overnight. Serving as an interim head coach for several months is the biggest challenge I have faced as a coach and one that I’m proud to have seen through successfully.

I join LSC hoping for new challenges, thrilled to start work with this excellent team of swimmers and coaches. I look forward to developing the swimmers, programme and myself and I’m excited to be part of a club that continues to rise.

Miroslav (Miro) Dimitrov - County Squad Coach

Qualifications

Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) Level 2 Certificate for Teaching Swimming and ASA Adult and Child Water Activities,

Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS)

National Pool Lifeguard Qualification and RLSS National Rescue Award for Swimming Teachers and Coaches.

World Amateur Body Building Association Fitness Instructor Award

Number of Years at LSC

I have coached the County Squad at LSC since 2011.

Personal Coaching History

Over 12 years of teaching swimming and over three years coaching swimming at LSC.

Personal Swimming History

I started swimming when I was 9 years old when I joined the local swimming club in my hometown, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. After progressing through I then went on to attend Plovdiv's dedicated sports school and started swimming regularly at the Bulgarian National Championships.

Best Moment in Swimming

At the age of 14 and 15 years coming 3rd in 100m and 200m Breaststroke at the Bulgarian National Championships.

Other Interests

Cycling, gentle mountain biking and spending time with my family and friends.

Ambitions

To achieve Level 2 in Coaching and then working to achieve Level 3, which will help me produce top swimmers in the future.

Andrea Mato - Transition and Academy Coach

Qualifications

I'm a qualified PE teacher and physiotherapist (master’s degree) and specialised in children's disability. I completed four years research that involved working with blind children. I achieved 2nd place in the national science student programme during my time at university.

Number of Years at LSC

I started to work at LSC in 2013

Personal Coaching History

In 2000, I started a two years swim coach degree and since then I have been coaching and teaching swimming. I was also working for a hospital where I used swimming to help children with different disabilities.

Personal Swimming History

I swam for 6 years and for 12 years I trained in athletics and became a national junior athletic champion. Unfortunately, I had a back injury and never really got back to competitions.