SUPER swimming coach David Finney is in the running for a BBC Unsung Hero award – on the cusp of his 84 birthday.
David, from Church Hill was nominated by The Bridge Swimming Club which takes the plunge on Saturday mornings at Kingsley Pool.
Not only that but he also coaches for Redditch Swimming Club three nights and in between does workouts at his local gym.
“I try and keep myself active because if I lose my legs I’ll be incapacitated!” said David, who also coached badminton and table tennis before needing a cataract operation.
Amazingly he only got involved in swimming when he took his two sons to the club for lessons – and found himself literally thrown in the deep end.
“I was an adult learner, and the coach said ‘you’ve been coming along long enough, you can help coach’ I said, I can’t really swim – but I had to rapidly learn, that’s for sure,” said David.
His passion for coaching sports grew out of his involvement with ‘The Stonehouse Gang’ a Birmingham youth club originally set up by Birmingham Gazette reporter Harry Webb after the War to try and channel youngsters in the juvenile courts away from a life and crime and into sport instead.
“It was then 1946 and I’d been picked as a goalkeeper for my school and one of the lads said ‘we need a goalie for The Stonehouse Gang’ and that was that!” said the former engineer pattern maker.
He hasn’t looked back since, helping set up The Bridge Swimming Club, originally for members of the Boys and Girls Brigade, 40 years ago.
“I get a tremendous amount of pleasure out of seeing a frightened child take their feet off the bottom for the first time and start to swim,” said David.
His wife Mary said: “He has been doing something like this ever since I knew him, and we’ve been married 56 years, and he used to be a great one for cricket too.”
Fellow coach Sue Robinson added: “I was ‘conned’ by David into getting involved nine years ago and his enthusiasm for teaching young people to swim can be seen when a child is achieving their potential, he will smile, shout encouragement and jump up and down on the side of the pool and shake their hands.”
