Warrender Baths Club is at the forefront of swimming in Scotland and Great Britain, with athletes succeeding at National and International Championships. Head Coach, Laurel Bailey, oversees the delivery of the programme. Laurel has been the Head Coach since January 2009, having coached with the Club since 2004. During that time she has coached swimmers to the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2013 and 2015 World Championships, and was a member of the Great Britain Olympic Team as a coach in Rio 2016. Laurel has worked closely with both Scottish and British Swimming performance pathway programmes over the last 10 years and regularly contributes to District and National committees. Mentored by Laurel, many of our dedicated team of coaches have personal experience of swimming at Elite level and they contribute to the Scottish Swimming Performance Pathway, coaching District Regional Programme, Youth Development Squad and Youth Squad programmes. She also sits on the Scottish Swimming Coaches Technical Panel.
Our youngest swimmers in our entry level squads work on improving their skills and stamina and have the opportunity to progress through a 6-level structured Club programme, aiming for the National Performance squad at the top. Our athletes make new friends away from school and are instilled with life-long skills and values. Warrender creates an experience which builds and develops young people into the best they can be, working alongside them to help them achieve their personal goals. Competitions start for entry-level squads with internal development meets with the swimmers’ own team-mates every 6 weeks, where they learn to race and are encouraged to learn from their mistakes as they go. From here, as the swimmers progress through the programme they take part in local Club meets, District, National and International Meets.
We work closely with senior programmes linked to universities across the country and encourage all our athletes to enjoy the benefits of swimming while they complete their higher education. We retain strong links with our alumni, with swimmers often maintaining membership of the club. We also have athletes who choose to move to the American Collegiate system where they can access sports scholarships and experience a new country and education system from their swimming achievements with the Club.
The individual successes of our youth athletes highlights the success of the Warrender pathway. Most recently, Archie Goodburn (now training at the British Swimming National Centre in Loughborough while studying at Loughborough University) started swimming with Warrender as an 8 year old. Archie went on to represent Great Britain at the World Junior Swimming Championships where he won a bronze medal in the 50m Breaststroke, as well as picking up medals at the European Junior Swimming Championships and taking part in the European Youth Olympic Festival where he was selected by his team-mates to be the flag-bearer for the GB team.
Sister Katie Goodburn has risen up the British ranks and now has the 2022 Commonwealth Games in sight. Katie broke the Scottish Junior Record in the 50m Breaststroke at the 2019 British Championships where she finished 4th in the A final. In December 2019, Katie travelled to Ontario, representing Great Britain at the Ontario Junior International where she won two gold medals.
Angus Allison moved to Warrender after spending his formative years swimming with Inverleith ASC. Since joining the Club, Angus has cemented himself as one of the top youth swimmers in Scotland. A member of the Scottish Swimming Youth Squad, Angus broke the Scottish Junior Record (held by Duncan Scott) in the 200 IM at the 2019 Scottish Short Course Championships. Angus is aiming to qualify for the World Junior Championships in 2021.
One of the highlights of the season for our National squad swimmers is the opportunity to go on training camp each year, most recently in Cyprus and Spain, to train outside in the sun with their team-mates. The camps are a different experience for the athletes, where they have to take on the responsibilities and discipline of looking after themselves and getting ready for training whilst living closely with their team-mates. When reflecting on their swimming careers, training camps are usually listed at the very top of the most memorable experiences!
Warrender has a strong network of parent volunteers, which is a huge asset to the Club as this enables us to host our own competitive meets – The Warrender Winter Meet in December each year hosts 400 swimmers from Clubs right across the country, and the WBC JAG Meet in March, recently redesigned to appeal to swimmers aged 9-15 who are looking for an alternative competitive experience to SNAGs. These are key competitive opportunities, allowing swimmers from throughout Scotland to gain accredited times within qualifying windows for other competitions in the season. By being an active part of the Club, parents are able to meet new people and gain new skills, whether as a poolside technical official or by organising events or fundraising activities. The coaching team and athletes are well-supported by a Management Committee with a range and depth of skills, and Squad Administrators help the coaches with admin so that they are able to devote their time to coaching and improving the swimmers in their squads. We organise Scottish Swimming training for volunteers – timekeeping courses, team manager courses, Child Protection courses etc.
Warrender supports swimming in the local community. We provide coaching for the James Gillespie’s High School Swim Team, who now enter the Edinburgh & Midlothian Schools Championships, and for Leith Academy Swim Club and Forrester and St Augustine’s Girls Swim Club. We received funding from City of Edinburgh Council Physical Activity and Sport Fund in recognition of the contribution the Club makes to the girls by bringing them into a sport they might not otherwise experience.
We get involved with charity events – Swimathon and Sport Relief are annual events in our Club calendar where our youngest swimmers love teaming up with senior athletes in House Teams to race together. In 2019 we launched the WBC House Cup, designed to bring swimmers and families of different ages and stages across the Club together in a new and exciting way. Events throughout the year allow swimmers to score points for their House with a House Cup awarded to the House with the highest score at the end of the year. The History of the Club is encapsulated within the names of the Houses, with each one named after a street surrounding the historic Warrender Swim Centre.
If you would like to be part of the Warrender family, please send us an email to arrange a trial! – joinwarrenderbc@gmail.com