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Coaching and Sports Development

Training Group Members - Open Water Swimming Officiating Specialist (voluntary roles)

Location Nationwide

Salary Voluntary

Organisation Swim England

Contract Contract

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Closing date: 8th July 2025

About Us

Our Purpose and Vision

As the recognised national governing body for swimming, artistic swimming, diving and water polo in England, Swim England helps people learn how to swim, enjoy the water safely, and compete in all our sports.

Our Vision : Great experiences in water. For all. For Life.

Our Mission : To lead and serve an aquatics community to enable safe, enjoyable and successful experiences.

It is one of the nation’s most popular recreational activities enjoyed by millions of people in England.

Swim England, through aquatics, is uniquely placed to tackle inequalities and support health and wellbeing given the activities’ accessibility to people of all ages and abilities. On top of this, aquatics is made up of four amazing Olympic and Paralympic sports with our network of clubs and talent pathways supporting people to realise their full potential in the water.

In March of 2024, we published in full the findings of an independent listening research report commissioned as part of our pledge to create a better future for everyone involved in aquatic sports. We are committed to only recruiting individuals who are as passionate as we are about being on this journey.

To find out more about what we do to work towards achieving our vision, download the full candidate pack from the job description button.

About The Role

About the role

The Swimming Leadership Group provides leadership in the recruitment, training and development of Swimming Technical Officials across clubs, counties and regions and has an ambitious plan to redesign the current programme.

We are forming a new group for an interim period of 18-24 months, The Swim England Swimming Officials Training and Development Working Party will be Chaired initially by the Chair of the Swim England Swimming Leadership Group with the intention being to appoint a permanent Chair at a later date.

The purpose of the group will be to:

Ensure that all activities of the group embody the One Swim England Strategy, contributing to and supporting the active delivery of an annual engagement plan.
Identify and promote a positive officiating culture.
Create post-qualification training and development opportunities for technical officials, be these written, online, face-to-face or through social media.
Apply for and attend national events on a regular basis. When attending events, play a role in welcoming new officials, organising social activities and creating a sense of team.
Identify officials who have the potential to participate in further development opportunities.
Consider ways of recognising the commitment of swimming officials.
Provide two representatives to attend meetings of the Swim England Swimming Leadership Group.
Provide a representative to sit on the Aquatics GB Swimming Officials Group to represent the views of Swim England, as outlined by the SLG.

The group will consist of the following posts:

Pool Swimming Officiating Specialist (4)
Open Water Swimming Officiating Specialist (2)
Para Swimming Officiating Specialist (2)
Masters Swimming Officiating Specialist (2)

This vacancy is for the open water swimming officiating only, please see the separate adverts for the other roles.

About You

Applicants must be a Swim England member and qualified as an Open Water Swimming Referee.

Candidates will be expected to demonstrate:

A keenness to assist with the training and development of officials.
A knowledge of effective teaching and mentoring practices, gained from working in education, through volunteering or in industry.
A willingness to learn and be a role model for Swim England at local and national level.
A willingness to attend Swim England national competitions.
Experience of officiating at open water swimming events.

Further Information

How to apply

Please send your application via email to leadershipgroups@swimming.org marked as 'open water swimming officiating working party application'.

Your application should include details of your open water officiating experience, any experience you have of planning and delivering training courses or CPD to adults and a short personal statement detailing why you would like to join the working party.

If you have any queries about this role, please contact Helen Akers via leadershipgroups@swimming.org

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