Swimming Canada Press Release
Ottawa - Swimming/Natation Canada (SNC) and the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) are pleased to announce the appointment of longtime Olympic coach Deryk Snelling as the SNC Junior Mentor Coach. Snelling has been contracted to develop the coaching talents of selected coaches who are currently working with high performance-designated junior (18 & under) swimmers.

"This project provides SNC with the resources to involve one of the most productive Olympic Coaches in Canadian history and to have him impact coaches and athletes who clearly show international potential," says Dave Johnson, SNC's director of high performance and national team head coach. "Professional development for productive club coaches in Canada is difficult to obtain. In an effort to enhance this area and take a more active interest in developing promising coaches, SNC has made the decision to utilize Mr. Snelling's services."

As the junior mentor coach, Snelling will be providing interventions in three areas critical to the coach/athlete tandem: planning, training, and competition. "The direct focus of the program will be to take the coach to the next level," says Snelling. "We will be directly impacting the communication and trust between swimmer and coach, as well as developing on-site services for the coach and swimmer from a sport science and training methodology perspective." The program will be piloted over the next six months.

Snelling, coach of 1992 Olympic gold medallist Mark Tewksbury, has just returned to Canada from Great Britain where he served as the Great Britain national coach for the past four years. Prior to 1996, Snelling coached in Canada for 29 years. During that time, he placed 57 swimmers on Olympic teams, 19 of them earning Olympic medals. During his tenure at the Canadian Dolphin Swim Club, the Etobicoke Swim Club, the Calgary Swim Club, the University of Calgary Swim Club and the National Sport Centre Calgary, he was named SNC coach of the year four times, received the CIAU coach of the year honor five times and won 69 national championship team titles. He received the Order of Canada in 1977 and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1993. Olympic medallists Curtis Myden, Cheryl Gibson, Tom Ponting, Leslie Cliff and Bruce Robertson as well as former world record holder Wendy Cooke were all coached by Snelling.

Funded under the auspices of the Canadian Professional Coaches Association and the Coaching Association of Canada, SNC's junior mentor coach program will serve as a pilot for a national mentor coach program that could be transferable across many other Olympic sports.

As the national sport governing body for Canadian swimming, Swimming/Natation Canada has over 70,000 members represented by more than 350 clubs across the country. Sport Canada, a branch of the Department of Canadian Heritage, is a major funding partner of the association.