Hayley Baker leads the way
This year the BUCS conference took place at Warwick University from the 16th – 18th of July, where sporting departments from all over the UK come together to celebrate all things sport at university.
The BUCS conference consisted of engaging breakout sessions, keynotes speakers, dynamic forums and the return of the annual BUCS Awards evening on the Thursday.
This year, for the first time in Swansea University history, we had a staff member nominated and shortlisted for ‘Coach of the Year’. Hayley Baker, our high-performance swimming coach, has continued to show why she is heading to the Paris Olympics as a Team GB coach this year, as she dominated the field and went on to win the 'Coach of the Year' award at the BUCS Awards 2024.
Hayley has gone above and beyond in her coaching role, both at an international level with Aquatics GB, and at the domestic level with Swansea University’s Swimming Team.
Hayley’s selection as the coach for the marathon swimming in the Paris Olympics 2024 is a significant achievement. Not only is this Hayley’s second consecutive Olympic Games following her nomination for Team GB at the Tokyo Games in 2020, but she is also the first ever Welsh swimming coach to achieve this incredible accomplishment. This success highlights Hayley’s dedication and expertise in this sport.
Following on from their social media post, BUCS said “(Coach of the Year winner) Awarded to the incredible two-time Olympic swimming coach Hayley Baker, Head coach of Swansea University Swimming. Her dedication and impact on students extends far beyond the pool, shaping them into well-rounded individuals equipped with both swimming skills and essential life skills, enabling athletes to perform on the world stage.”
We caught up with Hayley to see what she had to say:
“It is a great honour to receive this award as there are so many coaches from a massive range of sports within BUCS, so to be nominated was amazing, however winning was an unexpected surprise. It shows the hard work myself, the coaching team and the Sport Swansea staff are putting in is paying off. I'm really proud of all the team including the swimmers, as they really do support me and enable me to keep striving forward.”
A huge congratulations to Hayley and all the incredible work she has put into the swimming programme this year! A well-deserved award.
To find out more about the swimming programme Hayley coaches, click here.