Wyre Forest Swimming Club
Wyre Forest Swimming Club (WFSC) is a volunteer led Competitive Swimming Club and a Registered Charity (Reg No 1128317) based in the north of the county or Worcestershire. It serves three main centres of population Kidderminster, Stourport and Bewdley. It formed in 1998 when Stourport and Kidderminster Swimming Clubs merged.
This rural club has a fine history of "punching above its weight" producing no less than two Olympic Swimmers in Amy Smith and Claire Cashmore (Paralympian). The club also has a history of supporting disability swimming most notably in recent years through Steve Boyce (Downs Syndrome European Silver Medallist 100m Freestyle). Fran O'Connor (S7) and Jessica Benyon
WFSC pride themselves in not only providing a channel for teaching swimming and coaching competitive swimming but also in providing a warm "family environment" where parents, swimmers and coaches mix freely whilst maintaining a professional approach to coaching and training. The Club is SwimMark accredited and is run on a day-to-day basis by part-time volunteers who serve on the club committee who meet once a month.
The club offers swimming lessons following the Swim England National Plan for teaching swimming where children are taught by enthusiastic Swim England qualified teachers, followed by a progressive scheme of competitive squads from Academy through to Gold, supporting, encouraging and developing swimmers from beginners to National level.
WFSC is led by Head Coach, Brian McGuinness, supported by a team of coaches. Brian McGuinness has a wealth of experience in sport. An ASA Level 4 Coach with international experience with GB, England & Scotland Squads & Teams. He has worked with swimmers at all levels of the sport including Olympians, Commonwealth games representatives, National record holders and title winners at Senior, Junior, Youth and Age Group levels as well as being selected for National Teams & Squads himself. Brian is also very active within the sport as a whole and is also the Executive Director of the British Swimming Coaches Association (BSCA). He has also tutored, mentored and assessed coaches within the ASA (now Swim England) Coach Education process and was an advisor upon the current programme.