CES Head Coach, 9 Oct 2007

Vergnoux central to pool glory
STUART BATHGATE

THERE are few coaches in Scotland, in any sport, who can boast having taken their athletes to world and European titles. There are fewer still who, having achieved such success, could walk down the street unnoticed.

Fred Vergnoux is one of the few, and he is happy to keep it that way. The head coach of the City of Edinburgh Swimming Club, Vergnoux is adamant he prefers to help others make the most of their talent rather than seeking acclaim for himself.

He cannot entirely escape recognition for his efforts, however. Last week, he was named joint winner, with Sean Kelly of Stockport Metro, of the UK Coach of the Year award. Vergnoux won the same accolade in 2006, and, on both occasions, the achievements of Kirsty Balfour were cited as reasons. Her European gold medal and colleague Kris Gilchrist's Commonwealth and European bronzes were Vergnoux's biggest achievements last year, while Balfour's world silver medal has been the highlight of this year.

Besides those two swimmers, the elite band coached by the 34-year-old Frenchman includes his wife, former world champion, Alena Popchanka, and double Commonwealth gold medallist Gregor Tait. A native of Belarus, Popchanka now represents her husband's homeland, though the couple have been happily settled in Edinburgh for the past few years.

Vergnoux set out with ambitions to be a top-class swimmer, and made it to national level. But then came university, and the steady realisation his strength lay in coaching.

"I see myself as someone with a mission to help those kids get better," he explained. "I try to support them as well as I can. What I say to my guys is I run the programme, but they own it. I'm there to help them, and they make most of the decisions. My main interest is to have a relation with my swimmer. If he goes to European or world level, that's good, but I just want to share my life with them, understand them better every day.

"When I started [as a coach] I was really directive, and there was not much room for input or flexibility. Now it's more like a trust relation where we share and discuss things. I propose the plan, but they own everything, so it's up to them to run it."

Still relatively young for a coach, Vergnoux plans to keep on working in his present post for some time to come, partly because he thinks he can become better himself, and partly because he is sure his swimmers, too, can achieve a lot more. "All of them can go a lot further. What we have done is just the beginning, really. Some of the swimmers that I coach now can be the best of the world. We're trying to get there.

"My current contract here runs until [the Olympic Games in] Beijing, then hopefully it will carry on for an extra four years. I want to do what I'm doing now for an extra nine years - two more Olympiads - then I might do something different. Stay in swimming probably, but maybe in a different role."

Tait, now 28, returned from Cardiff to work with Vergnoux, and credits the coach with keeping his enthusiasm intact. "He's turned things around a little bit for me. He's changed my way of thinking, and we've done a lot more land work than I've ever done before.

"He always has you guessing about what's going to happen next. You don't get into a routine at all, which is one of the main things, because, specially when you get a bit further on in your career, you like to do different things to keep your mind and body active.

"He's actually a pretty good friend as well. He has that relationship where we can talk about anything. It's not a coach-swimmer, it's a friend-friend now.

"If I've got something on my mind, I'll tell him straight away. I won't think I can't tell him because he's the coach."

Michael Scott, the acting head coach of British Swimming, was in Edinburgh last week - his first in the post - to meet Vergnoux and his squad. He identified three elements a good coach needs to have. "First, they really have to have a passion for what they do," Scott said. "Coaching is not a job, it's a lifestyle.

"Two, you have to have an understanding with your swimmers. Fred has a really good rapport and working relationship with the swimmers. They need to respect him and his knowledge, and vice versa. Older swimmers, especially, can help in the development of the programme by feeding information back to the coach.

"And the third point is they've got to have the fundamental technical knowledge. So it's about passion, rapport and knowledge, and the right combination of those three develops a world-class coach."

Vergnoux appears to personify that correct combination.