Trevor Collins – 2005 BBC Sports Personality of the Year – Unsung Hero
My family joined the WWS club in 1975 as we felt that our sons should learn to swim in a properly structured environment with ASA teachers.
From the moment we joined as with all other members we were made welcome to be part of the club. After a few months my wife Anne and I attended the WWSC AGM and that’s where our involvement on the club committee began. Anne and I both became Lifeguards and a little later our swim teaching/coaching roles in the club began.
We were introduced to a big hole in the ground at Moa Place by Ron Smith where he told us what he wanted us to do, Ron would never take no for an answer so you just got on with the west wight community to the job in hand. That period in the clubs history was great everybody worked so well together and lasting friendships were born. I unexpectedly became club coach when his wife’s illness forced him to retire. Oh boy that put me on a fast learning curve as I was starting from scratch. After years of gaining experience we started to produce swimmers that were of national standard with Darren Mew becoming our first international.
To achieve this we had to increase the pool-time we used to enable our swimmers to succeed. A lady that I worked with suddenly realised how many hours each week I had to put in as coach in addition to my normal working hours, and started asking questions of our club members (unbeknown to me) about my role in the club.
The first I knew about this was when I received a letter from BBC South asking if I was happy with being nominated for the regional Sports Personality Unsung Hero award, this was followed by the main BBC Sports Personality awards. Anne and I were invited to the SP award show in London and I was unaware that I was being awarded with the unsung hero award until a lady pinned a microphone onto my jacket and said you will have to talk for 30 secs, wow what a surprise, but it gave me the opportunity to mention the great effort by the West Wight community in building our pool.
Since then I was invited to be on the selection panel by the BBC. I am very proud of the West Wight Swimming Club and all that it has achieved over the years since it’s formation in the late 60’s
