SWIMMING in Pembrokeshire has a new man at the helm because Craig Nelson is the person charged with the responsibility of maintaining and then enhancing the already considerable reputation of swimming in our county in Wales, and even further afield.

Craig is the newly-appointed Pembrokeshire Swimming Development Coach for the Leisure Services arm of Pembrokeshire County Council and one of his main roles is to coach the elite ‘Performance’ squad as well as to encourage as many people of all ages in the county to take up swimming.

"I see both as very important," said Craig, "because the one flies the county flag and the other means that the more youngsters who take up swimming the more chance we have of finding the depth of talent we need."

Craig was previously the assistant coach to Paul Dowey, now safely ensconced in New Zealand, and aims to continue the work he started under Paul, with Chris Davies now as his assistant coach.

"We can work well together," said Craig, "and I am lucky to have very supportive parents of the youngsters in the Elite squad, and brilliant voluntary coaches in all six swimming clubs in the county.

"Phil Thomas is a marvelous county chairman and I have terrific support from Chris Payne and Gary Nicholas as my bosses in Pembrokeshire Leisure Services."

Being involved with the best young swimmers in the county certainly keeps Craig busy because his sessions with them are from 6-7.30am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, plus a 7am start on Saturday mornings as they complete up to 16 hours maximum each week.

“We also meet every weekday afternoon from 5-730pm,” Craig told us, “and as well as our swimming we also include some time in the gym as part of the training regime. It is tough but this commitment is very much needed if our swimmers are to reach the top levels.”

And reach the top they do because last year saw five local swimmers take part in the National Championships in Sheffield, and three swimmers have already qualified this season so the outlook is promising.

“”We took part in the Welsh Winter Open in Swansea recently,” said Craig, “and I was pleased that we achieved 81 personal best times, had 54 final swims, with 25 medals that comprised six gold, 12 silver and seven bronze.

“Then we went to the Swim Wales New Year Development Meeting in Swansea with our younger squad and had another 71 personal best times, with nine golds, 13 silver and 12 bronze in our tally of 34 medals as proof that these swimmers are going to be pushing for a place in our Elite squad if they maintain this sort of progress.”

There are other targets looming, however, like the West Wales Championships in Haverfordwest, followed by the Welsh Age and Youth Groups Championships taking place in April, and then Welsh Summer Nationals before Sheffield, so Craig and his young charges face a busy campaign.

Although he is only 23 now, Craig has acquired a wealth of experience, in and out of the pool because he started out with Dumfries Dolphins in Scotland when he was only five as his neighbours taught him to swim.

“I received every support from my parents, William and Ailsa,” Craig said, “because once I got really involved in competitive swimming in my teens they used to drive me from Dumfries to Glasgow, a round trip of about 100 miles, so that I could use the long course pool there

At that time Craig competed in all the different disciplines before finally finding his best performances in the 200 metres butterfly.

“I set out in freestyle at 13, moved to backstroke when I was 15, switched back to freestyle the next year and then settled on butterfly,” admitted Craig, “but was never good enough to really focus on breaststroke!”

Not rushing into a speciality is something that he continues to encourage now because he firmly believes in trying things out because one never knows how things can change over a period of time.

Outside of his swimming, Craig was also a very good downhill mountain biker during his younger days and he came third in the Scottish Championships. His father was heavily involved in motor sports so he also dabbled in that, as well as being a goalkeeper in football. But then he had to stop playing because of his tough training schedule for swimming – although there is a rumour circulating that he could stand between the uprights for Clarbeston Road in the near future!

Craig also swam in the inaugural UK School Games at 16 and was part of a team which came fifth in the 4x200m freestyle relay, and was chosen for the Scottish Bronze squad which had a week’s training camp around Christmas and at three other times in the year.

“I also went to swim in Florida for six months under top US coach Peter Banks. My old coach Richard Gheech had swum for Ireland in the 1988 Seoul Olympics,” explained Craig, “and when our pool was closed he recommended me because he knew there were endless opportunities in the USA.”

“The facilities were amazing and I learned a huge amount which I brought back with me and put to good use when I stopped swimming,” said Craig. “I then got involved with voluntary coaching with the Swansea Performance Centre for ten hours a week.”

“I achieved my Level Two coaching award and I am aiming to build to my Level Three award,”

He joined the Pembrokeshire Authority in June 2013 and is already anticipating the challenges ahead. He certainly has the way forward clearly fixed in his mind and after this short chat with Craig Nelson we at the Western Telegraph are firmly of the view that Pembrokeshire Swimming is still in very safe hands!