Tributes have been paid to Croydon Amphibians Swimming Club’s head coach Jamie Stewart who has died at the age of 37.
Jamie joined the club in 2010 and had previously been head coach of Sutton & Cheam SC and a county coach for Leatherhead SC.
Nick Hallam, chairman of Croydon Amphibians, said that Jamie had a motivational presence on poolside, encouraging and mentoring the club’s swimmers to many successes.
Nick said: “After joining, Jamie introduced the swimming philosophy and blueprint the club have followed ever since, with an emphasis on developing the correct technique amongst our youngest swimmers before the coaches begin to introduce the physically demanding sets in the pool.”
He said that Jamie’s focus on working with the swimmers to set ambitious goals and then putting in the hard work to achieve them had led to a successful period in the pool for the club with county, regional and national success.
“Jamie felt immensely proud of all his swimmers,” Hallam added.
Jamie had been a successful competitive swimmer himself, winning gold medals at county, regional and national competitions.
In 2007 he came out of retirement to compete at the national championships in Sheffield, finishing seventh in the 50m and 100m butterfly. He came twelfth at the Olympic Trials in 2008.
In 2014 he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer and took time off from his coaching duties to receive treatment.
In April, his stewardship of the club came to a close to concentrate fully on the personal challenges he faced.
Carole Chaplin, president of Surrey County ASA, remembered him as a primary school student when she was a teacher in Sutton and used to help select the local primary school team for the Surrey Schools’ Swimming Association inter-district competition.
“How terribly sad that such a young man with family commitments should suffer and die from this horrible disease,” she said.
An estimated 2.5 million people live with cancer in the UK, rising to four million by 2030, according to figures published last year by Macmillan Cancer Support.
Summing up, Hallam said: “Jamie, our friend, will always be an Amphibian.”