Jamie Lee Rush - Coach

I learnt to swim through the swim school at Diss and joined Diss Otters aged 8 or 9 years old. Let’s be honest…I was not a very good swimmer, my children who are in the club now are far quicker than I was at that age. I stuck at it and worked hard until I got good, around 14/15 years of age I began to break some club records, win some medals and got to represent Norfolk. My own experience as a swimmer has somewhat shaped my coaching philosophy, no matter your age or stage of development, as long as you work hard in my sessions I will help you to achieve the best version of yourself in the pool.

Aged 17 I left Diss Otters having achieved success in the pool as well as being given the opportunity to assistant coaching poolside and represent the club as team captain. I went to Sheffield Hallam University to study a degree in Sport Science with Coaching. Whilst I loved my time in Sheffield I returned back to Norfolk and the opportunity of Head Coach at DOSC arose. I was head coach for 9 years and had some wonderful times in this role taking large teams of swimmers to County events and finals, consistently taking a small team to Regionals and seeing one swimmer go to Nationals (on a link with UEA).

Now the year is 2022 and both of my children now swim for the club. Their involvement encouraged to volunteer back poolside and join the committee. Now as a paid assistant coach with the junior squads I am very happy with how things are going and am excited for the future with Laura at the helm. I’ve learnt a lot from Laura already and take her desire for technical development into my own coaching with the intention that the swimmers that leave my squads to her are as well prepared as they can be. I’m excited to take what we are working on in training through to competition and see the progress our swimmers make in this environment too.

My coaching aim: First and foremost I want to show passion in my delivery in the hope that some of that passion and love for this sport rubs off on our athletes. It’s a tough sport, to meet your potential you’ve really got to love it.