Crawley’s Ron Philpot was awarded the prestigious Harold Fern Award at a fantastic celebration at Birmingham University’s Great Hall on Saturday.
Ron’s award recognised a lifetime of commitment to swimming; as a competitor, coach, tutor and mentor.
Ron was a competitive swimmer between 1960-1968 and competed at the Mexico Olympic Trials against David Wilkie. From 1968 -1972 he changed sports and moved to water polo, playing for Sutton and Cheam as a goalkeeper, and was selected for Great Britain during this time.
Ron stepped away from full time coaching in December 2018 and has become the figure head of coach education in the South East, leading courses at all levels and inspiring the next generation of coaches. Ron now devotes most of his time to coach education with the Institute of Swimming (IOS) tutoring Assistant, Swimming, and Senior Swimming Coaching Qualifications. He also is a tutor assessor and tutor trainer. At Crawley SC Ron is Technical Director and mentors the coaching team as well as working with para swimmers within the club. In addition, he coaches the East London Network for young inexperienced swimmers twice a month.
The event was the Annual Swim England Awards where Swim England CEO Andy Salmon said: “These awards are one of my favourite events of the year, an opportunity to take a moment to rightly applaud and give thanks to so many people who do so much for our sports and activities.