NEW chief coach Alex Dallimore is aiming high and wants to produce the next Rebecca Adlington in Hereford.

He will be helping to carry out a full re-structure of the City of Hereford Swimming Club in January.

“My plans for the club are very much in the developmental stage at this current time,” said 24-year-old Dallimore, who has replaced Lucy Walters.

“Fundamentally, we will be looking to return the club to its former position as one of the top clubs in the country.

“The club has unfortunately seen a dip in its form in recent years. I aim to turn this around.

“In the initial stages, the club will go through a full re-structure in January to bring it in line with best practice for delivering performance swimming.

“The big goal would be to produced Herefordian swimmers with world-class potential.

The club has achieved this in the past so I see no reason why it cannot be repeated. The next Rebecca Adlington could come from Hereford.”

Dallimore started his coaching career at the age of 14 and mentored some of the best coaches in Wales when he took a sports science degree at Swansea University.

He also worked with regional, national and international swimmers and, helped by Swim Wales, secured his coaching qualifications.

After graduating, Dallimore became head coach of Carmarthen and District Swimming Club where he helped develop one of the leading age-group programmes in Wales.

He also produced his first British national medallist and multiple Welsh National Champions and was selected as a member of the Swim Wales national skills coaching team.

“We are currently investigating opportunities for building a swimming academy into the programme to ensure that there is an efficient development pathway for all of the young swimmers in Hereford and surrounding areas,” he said.

“I am also looking at developing a mass participation element to the club to run alongside the performance squads.

This will allow swimmers of all abilities to access competitive swimming and other associated aquatic disciplines.”

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Hereford swimmer Isabella Fox competed in the two-day English Schools’ Inter- Divisional Championships.

She was selected for the West Midlands Division 6 team. She swam the butterfly leg and the 100 metres butterfly individual swim.