Andy Osborne has gone to great lengths to ensure Gloucester City Swimming Club is moving in the right direction.

The head coach, who joined the club 10 years ago and took over as the main man two years later, has brought in a wide range of innovative changes during his time in charge.

And they certainly seem to be working because the club, which is based at GL1, is full to capacity in terms of its membership and also has a waiting list.

“We’re rammed,” said Osborne. “We’ve got 110 juniors and 70 seniors and we’re in a healthy position.

“We’ve got the largest disability squad in the country. We’ve got about 20 swimmers and one of them got selected for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.”

The competitor concerned was unable to go to go to Glasgow for personal reasons but Osborne is hopeful that he may soon have another top disability swimmer on his books.

“Grades permitting, Harry Wellington is coming to the University of Gloucestershire in September and he’s good,” said Osborne.

The link with the university is something that 58-year-old Osborne has worked hard to develop over the past couple of years.

“In the past, we’ve always lost swimmers when they go off to university,” he said. “Now we’ve been able to reverse that through our links with the University of Gloucestershire which means that students are happy to come and swim with the club.

“This club has always set out its stall to produce competitive senior swimmers. We’ve done that historically. It’s always been the club’s ethos and we have produced plenty of Olympians over the years.”

More recently, the likes of Dan Broady, James Broady, Jamie Cooke and Craig Munden have all benefitted from their ties with the club.

Osborne is keen to stress that it is a team effort that has helped the club to come on in leaps and bounds in recent years.

“It’s not all down to me,” he said. “A strong team ethic is what makes teams work.”

Many of the club’s swimmers start at the tender age of seven or eight and the club is proud of the fact that it provides a pathway that allows their talent to flourish.

“We have a ‘swim skills’ section for the younger ones which allows them to develop their skills and just enjoy the sport,” Osborne said.

“When they reach 12 or 13 they move into the ‘train to compete’ section where their skills are further developed and they learn to race.”

By this stage, they have already started competing in low-level open meetings.

“They start racing at nine,” said Osborne. “We’ve introduced something that we call the Four Seasons which means we run a gala in each season throughout the year. It seems to work and we don’t lose swimmers.

“My ethos is about developing people in the club environment.”

And it’s not just the swimmers who Osborne is looking to develop, he is also developing the coaches as well.

“We employ three full-time coaches in addition to myself,” he said. “James Richards is my assistant and he’s come through the system.

“Just below him is Daisy Bond who has come through the University of Gloucestershire and also works as a sports masseuse.

“And we’ve got Daniel Bennett who is a disability swimmer coming through. Developing people is something I’m a strong believer in.”

Osborne’s own development is not typical of all swimming coaches.

“I ran my own business until the age of 41 when I gave it up because I wanted to get into sport,” he said. “I didn’t know much about swimming and only got involved in it because my son Luke was good at it.

“I’d always played lots of sport – football, athletics, rugby – but I wasn’t a swimmer.

“Luke swam at Stroud Swimming Club and I started as an assistant coach there before becoming a head coach.”

Osborne left when the club became part of Thornbury-based Severnside Tritans but he retained a strong interest in the sport because Luke went to Bath University where he competed at a good level.

“I learned from the coaches there,” said Osborne. “That’s where my education process really began. Those coaches inspired me and led me to where I am today.”

The lessons he learned 10 years ago still stand him in good stead today.

“I believe if you are trying to build something you must allow time for things to evolve,” he said. “You can’t keep chopping and changing.

“You need to have business practices in place that create an environment that allow swimmers to compete to the best of their ability.”