PEMBROKESHIRE'S swimming fraternity has lost its key figure this week with the departure of Paul Dowey, the Swimming Development Coach, to a new challenge as a coach in New Zealand.

He finished his last day with the Leisure Services Department of Pembrokeshire County Council on Wednesday, drove with his wife Jenny and young children to stay with her family in Exeter before flying out to New Zealand and a new role as head coach at the HPK Club in South Auckland, which is the second largest swimming club in the country.

 It is situated in the suburb of Howick Pukaranga, hence the name, and there are upwards of 8,000 people actually swimming there, as compared to about 3,500 in Pembrokeshire. There is a director of coaching above him, and three full-time coaches under his guidance, along with a physiotherapist and conditioning coach.

There is a squad of 80 swimmers, including 40 elite swimmers, in the club and one of my targets set is to have a swimmer in the Olympic set-up by 2016, says Paul. The swimming is done outdoors, which is different from Pembrokeshire and the club has its own 33 metre pool, plus a 50 metre pool 15 minutes down the road at Papatoto, which we can also use. 

As well as working with the elite swimmers I will be developing the Pathway to Swimming with the whole host of voluntary coaches who help at the club. If they are as good as the help I have had in Pembrokeshire then I will be very lucky indeed, admitted Paul, because they have been brilliant.

 During his time here Paul has been the man charged with the responsibility of encouraging more swimmers in the county and developing a top performance swimming squad and on both counts he has done really well as Pembrokeshire's swimming set-up is held up as a model for other authorities to follow.

 Not that you would get any boasting from the softly-spoken Northern Irish man who is always eager to praise others, from the voluntary workers from the swimming clubs in the county through to Chris Payne, the manager of Pembrokeshire Leisure Services, and Gary Nicholas, the Leisure Services Officer, both of whom had the foresight to appoint him to his important role in 2008.

 Paul has certainly made an impact at the top level in Pembrokeshire because of the 16 swimmers in his Performance Squad he has had a number who have reached the very tough qualifying times for the British Amateur Swimming Association Age Groups and Youth Championships which are held at Sheffield.

 Paul would say that all of those swimmers are being rewarded for their dedication because he is a firm believer in the fact that he can work at developing their skills but his protégées have to show commitment and real dedication that sees them have to train for a minimum of 12 hours per week at the superb pool in Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, even if they live in Tenby, Pembroke or other towns in the county.

 That includes early morning sessions from 6 am to 7.30am, said Paul, because it then that I can really devote individual time to talk to the swimmers, as well as work with them in the pool.

He has been there almost every week morning at that early hour and also from 4pm to 7pm in the evenings, and although they are not the easiest hours for work he is committed to his young charges and says that the hard work is fully rewarded when they improve their times.

One has only had to talk to Paul for a short time to see his total commitment to swimming in the county, with the same involvement in the sport he has shown since he was a nipper in Lurgan, Northern Ireland.

He represented Lurgan and Lisburn in freestyle and butterfly races and he started helping out with coaching when he was only 14 years old and soon decided that it was what he wanted to do for life. This was despite contradictory advice from careers officers at Banbridge Academy, the grammar school he attended before attending a technical college at 16 so that he could take an Advanced GNVQ course in Leisure and Recreation alongside a course in Business Studies.

From there it was off to university and Paul moved to UWIC in Cardiff because it was the only college which offered a degree course in Sports Coaching and after studying six sports in the first year and four in the second he was allowed to specialise in the coaching of swimming in his final year. He also met wife Jenny, who is a teacher, at UWIC and as well as being his greatest supporter she also now shares the joy of daughter Skye (3) and son Ezra (1), both of whom already love being in the water!

 During his stint at UWIC he gained experience with Ann Tonge, who ran a swimming school linked to UWIC, and he also became head coach of the UWIC Swim Academy, which taught swimming to over 800 youngsters, with every encouragement from Andy Thomas, who was also involved.

From there it was on to part-time work with Amman Valley Swimming Club in Carmarthenshire before he completed his move west by obtaining the job of Swimming Development Coach with Pembrokeshire County Council.

 It has been a very much a hands-on role where I not only coaches the performance squad but where I often have my first meetings with nine year olds who could one day be part of the elite squad and emphasises my view that I can help develop their skills but it is their commitment which is the key factor.

It is a busy schedule but again Paul likes to praise those around him, like the volunteers at the swimming clubs in Milford Haven, Tenby, Pembroke, Fishguard and Haverfordwest, whom he says are terrific.

 But in the final analysis it is his involvement with his young charges that has been paramount and it is clear that he takes his responsibilities seriously, with the worst part of the job being to tell a youngster that they haven't achieved the target or, even worse, having to tell a squad member that they are not quite up to scratch but he tries to do it in the same quiet way that he does the rest of the job.

 It is nice to report that Paul says he and Jenny still love the county and are sad to be leaving, although it is necessary to progress his own ambitions.

We both will always remember Pembrokeshire with great affection as the place where I really started out in professional coaching. I intend to keep in touch via Facebook and will be looking out to see some good news of our squad eventually featuring at a higher level.

I would really thank everyone for their support and wish everyone success in the future.

 We can certainly return that sentiment in our county and we wish Paul Dowey and his family bon voyage, and every success in his exciting new career, down in the Land of the Long White Cloud!