Swim England have appointed Rose Younger and Andy McGinty as Talent Inclusion Officers for water polo who bring an ‘exciting blend of experiences’ to the position.
The pair come in on a temporary basis to cover for Norman Leighton over the next six months.
Within their role they will engage with the entire water polo community including our water polo athletes to develop the talent pathway.
Younger is a former captain of Great Britain’s women’s team, has coached in the UK, Brazil and USA and is one of the pioneers of the women’s game in the UK.
She was recently the assistant coach to the British squad at the recent U19 European Championships in Israel and brings a lifetime of passion for the sport to the position.
Younger also has a long standing career in the public sector, working in local government procurement for over 20 years.
McGinty has been a major part of one of the UK’s most successful water polo setups in recent years.
He’s excelled as a coach at Bolton School and the City of Manchester, winning multiple national titles and is a previous winner of the British Swimming water polo coach of the year award.
Recently he concluded his role as U19 Men’s Head Coach for Great Britain, a squad which he’s guided for the past several years, some of which will now transition into the senior programme.
On the appointments, Swim England’s Water Polo Programme Lead and Britain’s London 2012 Olympic team captain Craig Figes said: “Rose and Andy give the perfect blend of skills and experience which can really help our athletes and coaches take a step forward.
“We’re really lucky to have two well respected people within water polo in these roles who are passionate about both the sport but more importantly want to develop people, be it coaches, athletes, team managers or volunteers.”
“I think Andy’s success at home partnered with Rose’s experience abroad makes them the perfect partnership for this position.
“It’s the blend of experiences that is really exciting for me with this team.”
‘We’re looking to make some positive changes’
As part of the new regime Figes is looking forward to making some changes to help get more people involved in the sport.
He said: “We’re really excited to be able to review the athlete pathway and are looking to make some positive changes in the athlete’s journey.
“We also want to encourage the development of our water polo coaches which will help grow the entire community and help reach our long term targets of becoming more credible as a water polo nation.”
On being appointed Younger said: “I’m genuinely thrilled to get this role and surprised too.
“To be able to help people get to where they want to be is something I’ve trained to do and to be able to do that in a sport that I’m so passionate about is a dream for me.
“I’m really looking forward to working within our sport and to spread the message of how great and fun water polo is so we can grow our community.”
McGinty added: “I’m excited to get started in September and I’m looking forward to working with the water polo community during Normans recovery to try to move things forward over the coming months.”