Interview with Head Coach for British Disability Swimming, Billy Pye

Description

An interview with Billy Pye I'm originally from Blaengwynfi in the Upper Afon Valley. I moved down to Neath when I was brought in to head up the High Performance Centre at Swansea. I'm the Head Coach for British Disability Swimming. We had one swimmer in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games, eight swimmers in the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, and then ten swimmers in Beijing for the 2008 Games. At this point in time, we've got ten at the Performance Centre and it's quite likely that going into London 2012, we will have between nine and twelve swimmers based at the Centre. There's been many people who have encouraged me not just in swimming but in sport over the years. In swimming, I suppose my vaguest recollection of that time was Martin Woodroffe's silver medal in the 200 Fly. I've been involved in swimming from a young age, from about 12, 13. At 15, 16, I was pretty good, but unfortunately I stayed small. The ones I raced got bigger and I got beaten by them. I became a coach in around about 1979/80, the coach at my local club in Kenfig Hill and then ending up in Bridgend County Swimming Squad, and then seconded into British Swimming in 2003 to head up the Performance Centre on the run up to the Athens Paralympic Games. I was a swimmer at a young age, loved the sport and become a coach mainly when my daughter was born, just prior to that. She was born in 1986 and when she started swimming competitively, moved from a small club of competitive swimming, and as she progressed and swam for the County Squad and then international level, moved up the ladder. So from a small club in Kenfig to a bigger club at Bridgend County and then the ultimate with Paralympic medallists at the new Performance Centre in Swansea. the very best There's many enjoyments. I love the sport first and foremost; two, because I've got great athletes and I think, three, the icing on the cake is those athletes are the best in the world. Some fifteen years ago, I liked teaching children from a younger age into seniors, and then, of late, over the last eight years, I've coached the very best in the world. I think that when you're coaching swimmers, you get to see lots of lovely countries and I've been to lots of parts of the world. We went to places like Durban South Africa for the World Championships in 2006; we went to Athens in 2004 for the Paralympic Games; we've been to China, now in Beijing in 2008; and this year we go to Eindhoven in Holland for the World Championships in August. We've been to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games with Wales; will be going to India, as well. Unfortunately, I'm on the England team for that one because I will be putting five England swimmers on the team, but we won't mind that because one of them is Sam [Hynds]. Beijing was a great experience because it was China. It was in a huge country and we put on a fantastic Paralympic Games. But I think my favourite one of all would be the Athens 2004 Games because that's where the Olympic Games originated from, so it was going back to its birth place. training the trainers We go through, I suppose, something like your teachers. I am a Primary School teacher, myself. I gave that up to come coaching because Primary School teaching was too hard. I don't mind saying that. It's a very tough job. We go through the same procedures where we have to go on courses, pass exams, go on the next course, pass exams, so it's very similar to your teachers I suppose, and getting their final degree. I'm at level five. It goes in five stages and I'm at level five now so top level, so I can only get better and gain the more experience over years now rather than gain more qualifications. the best we can be It's their attention to detail on a daily basis. They're in the pool at six o'clock in the morning and we're still at the pool at six o'clock at night. In between that we have to eat, some have to go to school, some have to go to university and we're in the gym as well, so they're a highly disciplined group of athletes. We get anxious, we get nervous, but we know that what we've done over the previous month, that we've done all the best that we can. So, if we win, we win and that'll be great, but if we come second, third or fourth that's great as well, because we know that we've done all that we can, and that's the best we can be. beijing I think the hardest one to date is the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. It's going into a country where there's not much information about the facilities prior to going in there, so it was sort of going into the unknown, and when we got into the swimming pool in the Aquatic Centre in Beijing it was like being in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, I suppose. It was vast, and when you've got twenty thousand Chinese supporters screaming and shouting for their swimmers against ours that's quite intimidating. So that is one of the most difficult ones but luckily it was our most successful one for Great Britain but mainly for us as a group in Swansea, the most successful group in British sport. We say in Performance Sport that your last swim, your last game of football, your last event in athletics is always the most memorable one and so, I think, although we had the European Championships last year and we had the World Championships down in Brazil, the 2008 Beijing Games were the most challenging. more, more, more We went to Sydney with one swimmer and we got four gold medals and two silvers; we went to Athens and we got nine gold medals, thirteen medals in all; we went to Beijing and got one more gold medal and one more silver medal, so, I think, we always want more, more, more. The ultimate, I suppose, in any sport is to get one better or one more than the last one and that would mean ten gold medals in London 2012. It's a dream, but we all dream and, hopefully, we can get close to that. Welsh athletes, for the Commonwealth Games, we swim and compete as Wales. For the London 2012 Olympic / Paralympic Games, we're not Wales, we're as Great. Welsh athletes representing Great Britain, I think, will do very well and, hopefully, fingers crossed, we'll be bringing a few medals back to Wales. making friends Whether we are just learning to swim or learning to kick a rugby ball or a football, I think you make friends naturally because of the ethos of sport. And in our game, in swimming, it's a team event, but when you get on the block to swim, it's an individual event and that's fine, but you still have friends around your competitors, a great form of meeting people. the greatest job in the world I've never ever thought of giving up. I'm quite lucky that I love going to work. I look forward to every day as a challenge. I've got great swimmers around me. I've got a great support team and a great staff. Never ever thought of giving up ... but there are some times on a cold December wet morning when I don't feel like getting out of bed to go training at five o'clock! Like every youngster, I wish I could have been a professional footballer. I wasn't good enough for that unfortunately, but the career and sport that I have chosen is one that I passionately believe in and I love, and for me it's the greatest job in the world. (This interview was conducted by children from St Thomas Community Primary School, Swansea.)