A RENOWNED swimming coach from Skipton has won a prestigious UK award, and has talked about the dramatic developments since she arrived at Mount Kelly boarding school in Devon eight years ago.

Emma Collings-Barnes has been named Talent Development Coach of the Year at the UK Coaching Awards, largely for her work as director of swimming at Mount Kelly, though she also gained recognition for her role as coach for the national junior squad in 2019.

Talking us through her journey, Collings-Barnes said: "I'm Skipton born and bred, but I left to go to Loughborough Uni in 2000. I only actually moved to Mount Kelly in 2012 though.

"It's a completely different programme to back then. It was relatively small in 2012, we only had 30-35 swimmers, but the rate of growth has been massive since.

"We just had one four-lane 25m pool at the school back then, but now we have an eight-lane 50m pool and a four-lane 20m one too.

"The facilities are much better, but we also want our pupils to know what it means to be a Mount Kelly swimmer.

"They're privileged to be in this position and they can see what they need to do now to represent us."

Talking about combining her work on a school and national level, Collings-Barnes said: "The way (national governing body) Swim England works is that you make your way up through the ranks.

"So I'd done that for four or five years and then was able to be a squad coach for the juniors last year.

"The aim is to be at World and European Junior Championships in the next year or two, as those are the ones you want to be coaching at.

"We want to get our athletes at Mount Kelly into those, as they're all Under-18s here."

The pinnacle of the sport is in the sights of both Mount Kelly and Collings-Barnes too.

She said: "We've got our eyes set on the Olympics and we've had that extra year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Some of our athletes, certainly a few of the overseas ones, are looking at Tokyo next year, and Paris 2024 is the big one on the agenda.

"We would love to have a current Mount Kelly student at the Olympics, and though I'd say it's more likely for the girls, I did coach Federico Burdisso, who came fourth in the 200m butterfly for Italy at the World Championships last year."

But both Burdisso and Collings-Barnes have spent far less time in and around the pool than they would have liked in 2020.

Talking about her award win and the challenges this year has thrown up, Collings-Barnes said: "You never get into coaching for this kind of reason (awards), so when it does happen it's a touch overwhelming.

"You can get complacent and stop progressing as a coach, but the pandemic has made us realise that you have to find different ways when there's no pool.

"The main focus has been making sure the kids stay engaged, with all sorts up in the air about competitions and practice.

"But I've been enjoying the challenge and I have an unbelievable team behind me at Mount Kelly, so it's nice to have those different brains to pick from."

Collings-Barnes is of course from a famous Skipton family. Older sister Sarah Collings is a former British number one in the 800m freestyle, and a European and Commonwealth medallist.

Meanwhile, father John was a popular headteacher at Greatwood School for nearly 20 years.