SNZ Events
Epic Swim
High Performance
SNZ Events
Epic Swim
High Performance
Swim Rotorua Coaches
Swim Rotorua have a great team of qualified coaches, lead by our head coach Alastair Johnson.
Alastair Johnson
Appointed Head Coach in November 2012 with responsibility for all coaching matters, staff development and mentoring, club development initiatives and leadership. Personal strengths include commitment, technique, athlete development and building club structures and pathways. Alastair has a wealth of coaching and teaching experience of over 25 years in England, Scotland, Singapore and New Zealand. His professional highlights so far include National Youth Coach for Scotland, Team Staff at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2007 World Championships and a recipient of the prestigious Prime Ministers Coaching Scholarship.
Alastair has a fantastic skill set including Learn to Swim delivery, building Clubs and developing High Performance athletes.
He has been awarded Gold Accreditation by Swimmng New Zealand, making him one of the few coaches in the country to achieve elite staus. In May 2018 Alastair recieved an award for NZ Mens & Womens 5km Open Water Coach of the Year. This was from the NZ Swim Coaches and Teachers Association.
Notable successes include:
Bronwen Radford
Coach of Turbo & Metro Squad and Adults/Triathlons/Masters Squad. Bronwen has been a Coach for over 10 years and has guided swimmers to podium finishes at a New Zealand Junior level and National qualification standards.
SNZ Qualifications:
Swimming New Zealand Swim Teachers Award, ACA Junior Skills Award, Teacher of Competitive Swimmers, Bronze Award (pending ratification)
Holds a current First Aid Certificate
Member of New Zealand Swim Coacher and Teachers Association
Bronwen is passionate about coaching and is inspired and feels fortunate to be able to spend time with so many incredible athletes. She has a unique approach and believes in developing each individual athlete to aid them in their personal journey towards success in sport and in life.
David Boles
I have completed my swim teacher training in 2017 and help coach the junior programme. I really enjoy helping the juniors make lots of progress. I compete at a national level both in the pool and in open water events. In January 2018 I qualified for Oceania Open Water 5km & 10km, to be held in June, in Papaua New Guinea.
Katlin Donnelly
I have been with Swim Rotorua as an assistant coach working with Tara and the Junior Academy for a couple of years now. I am still attending high school and coach after school three times a week. I really enjoy coaching all swimmers in the Junior Academy and seeing them progress onwards to the Turbo or Metro squads.
Claire Baylis
Hi ... I am Claire Baylis. I have coached with Swim Rotorua for some years now, currently in Junior Academy and the Turbo Squad. I have completed the National Certificate in Recreation and Sport (Aquatics) Swim Education and the Teacher of Competitive Strokes certification. as well as on-going training from Head Coach Alastair Johnson. I have three children (Stella, Paddy and Jack) who swim for the Club, I am a former & current Club Board Member, your School Liaison Manager and organise Race Nights with Tara. I love seeing how quickly our Junior Academy swimmers become water safe, improve their technique, reach the goals they have set in their passports and start collecting speed awards at Race Nights and local competitions.
I have been coaching with Swim Rotorua since 2013, and I currently coach the Turbo and Metro Squads on a Tuesday mornings. I enjoy working with the young swimmers who are keen to improve their skills.
I am on the Club Scholarship Committee, and I work a lot with the local schools. On behalf of Swim Rotorua, I also manage the Making the Difference Water Safety Programme which provides water safety lessons to schools – particularly low decile schools. I would love to see every student in Rotorua to be water safe by Year 6.
Tara Watt
Tara has a combined role of Club Administrator and Lead Coach for the Junior Academy. She has come to Swim Rotorua with a wealth of experience in management, administration and coaching. She's spent 8 year teaching in the Rotorua Lakes Swim School (where she will continue to have a role) - and has already taught a number of our young swimmers in the early stages of their swimming journey.
Tara hails from Essex and is currently studying business and administration part-time. She brings a love of swimming and 'can't wait' to get involved in the next steps on from learn to swim.
Tara is coaching primarily in our Junior Academy alongside Katlin, Samantha, David & James - but also in our outside squads.
Tara's appointment was another part of our commitment to invest more in our coaching programme, help smooth the transition from learn to swim to the club, and to lift the quality of our engagement and support for our athletes and families.
James Baldwin
James is a senior member of our Performance Squad as a competitive swimmer. He races at Nationals too. James completed his swim teacher training along with David in 2017. He enjoy's coaching the juniors.
Samantha Harliwich
Swimming is my passion and has been since I was a swimmer competing in my teens. My coaching background comes from working as a swim teacher in Auckland. Having developed my skills there, I decided to become a Primary school teacher and bestow my enthusiasm for teaching and learning in a classroom. I have now been a school teacher for 27 years. Swimming is a life skill that all New Zealanders should be able to do.
A quote from Michael Phelps sums up my feelings about swimming – ‘Swimming is normal for me. I’m relaxed, I’m comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It’s my home’.
