Pioneering coach, author and statistician Juba passes away

3 Nov 2020

British Swimming is saddened to hear of the passing of swimming coach, author and statistician Kelvin Juba.

Coach to a number of international swimmers in the 1970s, Juba went on to publish titles aimed at getting people into swimming, notably ‘Swimming for Fitness’ and ‘Get Fit- Swimming’.

Later in his career Kelvin was a member of the LEN steering group whom, with the European Life-Saving Federation and Swim England, began work on a new project titled ‘Getting Europe Swimming Safely’.

kelvin jupa
Kelvin Juba

As a member of the steering group that undertook extensive research across Europe in order to establish standards for teaching and learning swimming, Juba said:

“We hope to do something good for not only saving lives but to get people swimming properly.”

This statement summed up his mantra, as he constantly gave back to the sport he loved.

Juba had followed in his father’s footsteps as a swimming coach and went on to work across several sports before returning to the swimming world, later writing the aforementioned books, one of which was a collaboration with 1976 Olympic 200m breaststroke champion David Wilkie.

Kelvin, who formed a husband-wife team with Sandy Juba, had a 25 year career in international sports marketing, representing the marketing needs of multinational companies in major sports events round the world, such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and the Football World Cup, before the duo focused their attention on aquatics. Kelvin was also an editor for Swimming Times and television commentator.

Our thoughts are with Kelvin’s family and friends at this sad time.