Para Swimming

Gloucester City Swimming Club is committed to providing quality swimming coaching to young people with a large variety of disabilities. We have one of the strongest para squads in the South West, with swimmers competing in a wide range of competitions from local galas to international meets.

We offer both para-specific sessions and fully inclusive sessions with able-bodied swimmers, all of which are coached by our expert coaching team who are all fully trained in coaching swimmers with a disability. Information about our Training Timetable and Squad Structure is available here.

We are very proud of our para swimmers: we have a Team GB Down’s Syndrome athlete, a swimmer on the British Para Swimming Podium Potential Programme, and another who has recently been selected to attend the National Para Development Programme. We also have two athletes who have been selected to swim at the prestigious Para Swimming World Series Meet in February 2022 in Aberdeen. 

GCSC has been made the Hub Club for disability swimming in Gloucestershire. We are responsible for assessing all young disabled people in the county who have expressed an interest in swimming, and then signposting them to an appropriate Club or swim school, depending on where the individual lives and their ability.
 
If you are interested in an assessment or would like more information, get in touch via our Contact Page.

Para Coaching

The approach to our para-squad is to work with the individual needs and abilities of the swimmer. We focus on what they can do rather than what they can’t. Swimmers will focus on developing stroke technique and racing skills. Once swimmers have reached a high training standard, the coaching team will aim to integrate them into other squads.

Our Head Coach, James Richards, will lead the South West Regional Para Talent Pathway camps in 2022 and our Skills Coach, Craig Skinner, will be the Para Skills Coach at these camps.

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Para Classification

The full procedures for both the physical and intellectual classification for para swimmers can be found on the British Swimming website on this link:

Competitions

We support our para-swimmers at many competitions:

  • Level 3 & Level 2 Open Meets that have a multi-classification element (all GCSC Open Meets have this element)
  • Club Championships
  • Gloucester County Championships
  • South West Regional Championships
  • South West Regional Para-Swimming Championships
  • Para Junior National Championships
  • National Para-Swimming Championships
  • International Para-Swimming Championships