BASILDON & Phoenix’s new head coach Doug Campbell is convinced the swimming club will make a splash.

Campbell took over a month ago following four years as the Scottish national coach and has already seen enough to predict the club has a bright future.

He is now working hard at Basildon Sporting Village to ensure Basildon & Phoenix fulfils its potential. “For a club to be successful you have to have some decent swimmers, a decent facility, a committee who are willing and able to bring the club forward and you need a coach,” said Campbell, who competed at the Moscow Olympics in 1980.

“We have all four here and can achieve something in Basildon – it’s a case of putting them together.

“It’s a challenge I’m looking forward to because for the past four years I have been a national coach and part of that is dealing with strategic matters, working with lots of different elements.

“But I have missed coaching the last few years because for 26 years I coached at the coalface. As a national coach you have to be a jack of all trades.”

Campbell officially started his role on January 7 and has spent time evaluating the club’s swimmers, coaching structure and training timetables.

He brings a wealth of experience with him, having competed at Olympic, World Championship and Commonwealth Games level.

The 52-year-old subsequently coached swimmers who were placed on Team GB for six successive Olympics between 1984 and 2004, including Billericay-born Mark Foster, and was on the British coaching team at the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Campbell is looking to develop swimmers from their early days with the club and keep them progressing until they go to university. He says the key to that is getting on swimmers’ level and what coaching styles get the best out of them.