Paul Donovan has coached several Olympians and is looking to bring his coaching abilities to the local club.
Jersey Wahoos Swim Club has announced the appointment of Paul Donovan as the club’s new Director of Competitive Swimming. In this role, Donovan will have responsibility for leading and delivering the complete Wahoo program from lessons to the senior national group.
Donovan’s immediate background is in performance swimming, having worked as the head coach at the National Aquatic Centre Performance Centre for Swim Ireland for eight seasons. During that time, athletes under his direct supervision represented Ireland at every level of the sport, including Shane Ryan (Rio Olympic semi-finalist), Barry Murphy (London Olympian, European Bronze medallist 2013) and countless others who broke more than 50 Irish records during that time and won more than 100 national titles.
Donovan himself lead Irish teams to international meets during this time and travelled to competitions across the world on the junior, european and world stage.
His background is in club swimming having been the head coach in Trojan SC (Dublin), previously serving at all levels in the club from 10 and unders, all the way up to producing athletes representing Ireland on the world stage. In between these two roles, Donovan spent the 2007/2008 season as a volunteer assistant at the University of Florida under 2012 Olympic Head Coach Gregg Troy.
“I am delighted to accept this opportunity with the Jersey Wahoos,” Donovan said. “It is a program with a strong tradition at the national level, but one that also plays a key role in offering opportunities in the community to be part of the sport. This combination makes the Wahoos an ideal place to create an environment where success is inevitable. I have been blown away with the energy and passion the current coaches have for the athletes and I am looking forward to working with them all to deliver a program that allows the athletes the opportunity to be the very best that they can be.”
