Five swimmers are throwing themselves into a unique work experience opportunity as they take part in the first-ever Aquatics GB Open Doors project.
Paralympic champions Brock Whiston and Maisie Summers-Newton, Olympic gold medallist Kieran Bird, World Championship medal-winner Abbie Wood and three-time British champion Kara Hanlon have signed up to learn about the day-to-day business functions that go into running a National Governing Body - which help support them and their teammates to be able to train and perform on the world's biggest stages.
Over the next six months, that quintet of world-class competitors will gain experience and be mentored in areas such as communications and marketing, data analysis and travel planning as part of the performance operations setup, sports science and sports medicine (SSSM), and interview and CV writing skills with the People department, as they look to gain valuable insights and skills that can help their future career planning for life beyond competition.
They will also get the chance to shadow Aquatics GB CEO Drew Barrand at stages in the lead-up to April's Aquatics GB Swimming Championships and the summer's World Championships in Singapore - and Drew himself is excited to see this new project launched.
"We know that our athletes are outstanding at doing what they do in the performance arena, but I know they will also go on to have big impacts in whatever they do in the future - and it is great that we can give this group a glimpse into some of the jobs that our fantastic staff take on at Aquatics GB, as a way of gaining important career skills, " he said.
"Staff from across the business function departments are going to mentor one of the five athletes to help them get the most from this programme and ensure it is tailored to the areas that really interest them, so we know it's going to have a great impact. It may even lead to athletes moving from our pools to our offices in years to come!
"It's a huge credit to Claire Ewing and the rest of Open Doors team – Julie Smith, Clare Hartley, Janine Harriman, Karen Walton - that we have been able to get this project off the ground among the busy planning, training and competition schedule of the aquatics calendar, and it was great that we could get everybody into our head office in Loughborough together to begin the Open Doors journey together today."
The selected athletes are ready to dive in to the work that goes on away from the pool, and Olympic gold medallist Kieran Bird is excited for what’s to come.
“It’s a really exciting programme. A great opportunity for us guys on the programme and it’s a great initiative from the guys at Aquatics GB, I’m really excited to see what the future holds for it.”
Also enrolled onto the programme is Paralympic champion Maisie Summers-Newton, looking forward to further providing an athlete perspective to the work behind the scenes at Aquatics GB.
“I finished my university course in November, so I had a period of time where I didn’t really know what to do, whether to go down the teaching route or to keep swimming. I think at the moment it’s providing that opportunity for me to do something outside of swimming where I can be with other athletes at the same time but learn so much more from people within the national governing body. Hopefully I can share my experiences and my knowledge with the staff and make changes.”