Coaches

Laurel Bailey

Laurel Bailey is Warrender's full-time professional Head Coach.  On Joining Warrender Laurel was appointed as the Director of Age Group Swimming and as such headed up the coaching of both Junior National and Age Group squads. Laurel hails from Melbourne, Australia and took up the position with Warrender after obtaining a working visa for this country. In a short space of time Laurel quickly established herself as one of the most promising young coaches in Scotland and the improvements of the swimmers under her charge has been nothing short of dramatic. An unprecedented five Junior National Squad swimmers qualified for the 2007 British National Age Group Championships whilst over 20 swimmers from Laurel's two squads were selected for the 2006-07 Scottish Regional District Programme. Such results have not gone unnoticed either and Laurel gained her first international coaching selection as one of the staff for the Scottish Youth Squad trip to the 2007 Darmstadt International Meet in Germany. Laurel became Warrender's Head Coach earlier this year in recognition of her achievements and dedication to Warrender's swimmers. She now heads up the club's National squads and swimming programme.

Kyle Goodfellow

Former Scottish international swimmer Kyle Goodfellow is Warrender's newly appointed Assistant Coach.  Kyle joined Warrender as a 12 year old swimmer in 1999 after spending his formative years at Leith ASC.  He quickly progressed to be one of the leading swimmers in the country for his age group, and won numerous medals at District and National Championships.  In 2005 Kyle was selected to compete for Scotland at the US Open where he made a significant impact in the 200 breaststroke.  Recent years saw Kyle successfully combine senior level swimming with a promising coaching career.  He became the lead coach of one of the club's development squads, and spent two summers in Florida coaching for one of the top clubs in America (Fort Lauderdale Aquatics).  In April 2009 Kyle was offered the chance to become the club's assistant coach and he relishes the challenge of continuing the success of the club for many years to come.

Gail Smith

Gail Smith is one of several coaches who volunteer to assist with the club's development groups.  Gail is very passionate about swimming and has worked with various squads within Warrender over many years.  She has a wide experience of swimming at all levels and has in the last 8 years successfully built up herown swimming lessons company, SwimEasy Limited.  SwimEasy provide high quality swimming lessons for children aged 2 to 10 years and have become the largest independent swimming school in Scotland. 

Gail recognised the importance of swimming at an early age and has watched her two sons (both Warrender Swimmers) become among the leading swimmers in Britain.  Eldest son Taylor was the Scottish Junior Breaststroke Champion and just missed out on the qualification standard for the Scottish Commonwealth Games team.  Younger brother Lewis represented Great Britain at the European Junior Championships in 2005 and 2006, and also at the European Senior Championships in 2006. He also represented Scotland at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games in Australia winning two silver medals and was awarded the OCS Regional Young Sports Person of the Year 2005.  In 2009, Lewis qualified to swim the 400 IM for Great Britain at the World Championships in Rome.

Gail takes great pleasure in observing and tracking every swimmer in the Development Squads especially when they progress on through the club into other squads.  One of her goals is to see a Warrender swimmer who has first progressed through her lessons programme reach the Olympic arena.  She takes every opportunity to learn more about the wider aspects of the sport of swimming and attended the Olympic Games in both Sydney and Athens and this years World Championships in Melbourne as part of her professional development.

Hammy Smith

Hammy is Warrender's Director of Development, through which he either oversees or coaches a range of squads in the club's 'development' section from DF1 through to D+.  Although retired from full-time work now, Hammy brings a wealth of coaching experience to Warrender rarely surpassed in the sport.  A former Director of Swimming for Scotland, Hammy has also coached numerous times at Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European level.  He holds the ASA Coach award, and over the years has headed up several of Britain's leading swimming clubs including Reading and Beckenham as well as a senior coaching position in Canada.

Frances Smith

Frances is Hammy's wife and works together with Hammy in the Development Squads, assisting with the coaching of D2 and D3, and taking on a variety of important administration tasks.  Frances is the club's Swimming Convenor, as well as a Warrender life member, and a former Scottish international swimmer in her youth.