Learn more about the BSCA's Coach of the Day winners from across the 2025 Speedo Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships.
'Coach of the Day' winners for the 2025 Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships were voted for through a nomination process on the BSCA website.
Below we celebrate the recipients of the award from across Sunday 19th to Friday 25th July 2025, with winners having been awarded their certificate and a gift from Speedo - sponsor of 'Coach of the Day' at these championships - at the begining of the following days finals live stream on the Aquatics GB YouTube.
Full racing results from the championships are available online here, with live streaming of the Championships available to watch back on the Aquatics GB YouTube.
Coach of the Day (COTD) winners
[Winners commentary provided by the BSCA]
Darren Ashley (City of Liverpool Club)
Day 1 – Saturday 19th July 2025
Darren Ashley, Head Coach of the City of Liverpool Club, wins COTD for day one as his swimmers win three of the five Men's 1500m Freestyle gold medals on offer.
Ric Howard (Bolton Metro)
Day 2 – Sunday 20th July 2025
Ric Howard, Coach to Bolton Metro, wins COTD for day two after supporting Leo Talbot to gold in the Men's 15 Yrs 200m Freestyle, followed by Georgia Sheffield winning MC gold in the Women's 200m Freestyle event in a Para-swimming World Championships qualifying time; this after she missed the Paris Paralympic qualifying standard last year.
Tremendous achievement to help her overcome such disappointment and progress again this year. Bolton Metro is a small programme where both Para and Pathway athletes thrive and succeed under Ric’s guidance.
Tom Croke (Torfaen Dolphins Performance Squad)
Day 3 – Monday 21st July 2025
Tom Croke wins COTD for day three in recognition of the outstanding performance of Theodora Taylor in the Women’s 16 Yrs 200m Individual Medley. Theodora has had a wonderful season representing GB at the European Junior Championships in Samorin, winning medals and titles at the event, but she entered this meet with an entry time of 2:18.28 from April's Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, then swam 2:15.82 in the heats yesterday before recording a 2:13.88 in the final, when winning the event in the fastest time of any age group. This is the sixth fastest time recorded by any female swimmer from Great Britain in the last 12 months and for a 16 year old is worthy of the recognition that it deserves.
Paul Wilcock (Ramsbottom Swim Club)
Day 4 – Tuesday 22nd July 2025
Coach of the Day for day four goes to Paul Wilcock for the performance of Samuel Sutcliffe. Paul is the part time lead of a cooperative of coaches at Ramsbottom Swim Club who have limited resources, such as 12 hours pool time in a small community pool, but constantly produce top quality swimmers - and in this case an Aquatics GB Next Gen champion who recorded 50.4 in the Men's 16 Yrs 100m Freestyle final.
Karen Bradbury (RTW Monson)
Day 5 – Wednesday 23rd July 2025
The winner of Coach of the Day for day five is Karen Bradbury, Head Coach to RTW Monson. This award is in recognition of a great day’s work with three golds won; Women's 14-16 Yrs 4×200m Freestyle relay team, of which Amalie Smith was a part and who went on to win the Women's 16 Yrs 200m Freestyle title, as well as Julia Elvidge winning the Women's 13/14 Yrs 200m Backstroke.
This follows Karen taking over the Head Coach role at Monson roughly 12 months ago and has seen Amalie flourish, win European Junior titles and also currently sitting atop the rankings in the 200m Freestyle, Breaststroke and Individual Medley, as well as having developed a very strong team.
Patrick Miley (University of Aberdeen Performance Swimming)
Day 6 – Thursday 24th July 2025
Coach of the Day for Thursday 24th July 2025 is Patrick Miley from the University of Aberdeen Performance Swimming Programme for Faye Rogers outstanding swims in the Women’s MC 100m Butterfly, breaking the European Record for the S10 category.
Patrick also assisted Faye to break the Women's S10 200m Butterfly world record twice, earlier in the week.
Doug Campbell (Basildon Phoenix)
Day 7 – Friday 25th July 2025
Doug Campbell is COTD for the great swim by Skye Carter in Women's 17/18 Yrs 100m Butterfly - recording a time of 59.98 seconds despite having a very challenging and difficult training environment at present with three months of pool closure which has require them to seek support from neighbouring clubs.
Key Links:
- Live streaming on the Aquatics YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@Aquatics_GB/streams
- Event results: results.swimming.org/swimming/results/2025/agbnextgen
- Event page: Aquatics GB Next Gen Championships 2025
Date for the 2026 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships have been confirmed, with further details here.