Competitive swimming has been Marc
Spackman's personal and professional passion since he was young. As an
athlete, he swam for Great Britain at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and won two
major games medals at World Championships in Hong Kong (1999) and Athens (2000).
He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design from Nottingham Trent
University in 2006 and, while enrolled, started coaching with the Lincoln
Vulcans Swimming Club. He was promoted to Head Coach, and subsequently moved
to the Borough of Harrow Swimming Club, the Maxwell Swim Club, and in 2014 to his current role as Head Coach of the Royal School Wolverhampton. Marc
has served as a Coach for Great Britain at Major Games, as Head Coach on
England Talent Camps, and was a British Olympic Association Mentor at the
London Olympics. He was selected as a coach on the New York Breakers team
in the International Swimming League (ISL) for two seasons: Hungary
(2020) and Naples (2021). Across these experiences, he developed and
maintained a coaching philosophy grounded in cultivating each athlete's sense
of purpose and personal standard of excellence.
Coach Spackman's record of success at
the highest levels of competitive swimming are impressive; specifically,
he has coached Robert Welbourn (Paralympic gold medalist, World, European and
British record holder); Sophie Allen ( Olympian, European Junior silver medalist,
British age-group record holder); Elizabeth Simmonds (Olympian, World
Championship and European medalist, European Junior Champion, British and
European record holder); Alice Dearing (Olympian, European Junior bronze medalist,
Senior World and European Championship qualifier); Tom Derbyshire (Commonwealth
Youth Champion, European Junior Champion and European Junior silver medalist,
British age group record holder); and, Matthew Richards (Olympic Champion,
European Junior Champion, European Junior silver medalist, British and Welsh
record holder). He is the recipient of numerous awards, including
the BSCA Youth Coach of the Year Award, and the Terry Dennison Award for
Coaching Excellence
For over seven decades, ESWIM has
served as a consistent, reliable pipeline for exceptional swimming talent in
Canada. Coach Spackman is excited to build on that legacy, noting that he "is incredibly proud to be joining ESWIM, a club renowned for its commitment to
excellence." He added that, "I believe that there are no limits, and that with
the right mindset, your capacity to improve is infinite. I'm looking forward to
meeting ESWIM's exceptional athletes and working together to achieve their
goals."