Congratulations to Phil Potter – Awarded East District’s Tony Dane Coaches Dedication Award

This is a relatively new award within the District and it generates a lot of discussions within the Executive when applications and names are brought to the table.

The person selected after a lot of deliberation, started off as a swimmer, who was successful at distance and butterfly events, gaining meals at county, regional and National levels, swimming for England and GB Juniors.

When asked about his background the reply was, they swam at a half decent level, (personal best – 200m butterfly 13/02/99 at the FINA World Cup with a time of 02:07.71!!!

On moving to Edinburgh, they joined the coaching team at Warrender as assistant coach.

Their passion for swimming and subsequent coaching ensured they developed quickly and it was not long before they were head hunted by several teams, including their current team where they took over as Head Coach in 2001.

Since then, they have successfully led their Club’s continued development and produced both team growth and quality individual swimmer results.

Many high achieving swimmers (which we will all recognise) have flourished under this person’s coaching and several of these have gone on to both junior and senior international honours for Scotland and GB.

In 2017 he was awarded the SportsScotland Performance Development Coach of the Year. This time saw the juggling of the Lead Coach for Scottish Swimming’s National Development Programme, Head Coach position at their Club and Lead for the District Regional Programme,

This person’s passion continues for the sport and support for the Region and District, over and above their normal roles, plus his family life which is rightly central to their life now.

East District is delighted to present this award to Phil Potter