Tom Naughton
Swimming/Sporting /Achievements
Like many, I became involved in swimming because my daughters swam competitively. I was bored sitting on the balcony and thought it would be much easier to tell my daughters what to do from poolside rather than carrying out arm waving instructions on the balcony. Daughters rightly listened to the experts on poolside and ignored me on the balcony.
Although now Head Coach at Pershore I will always have a soft spot for Worcester meeting some great people and making some good friends. I still enjoy helping out and find it slightly difficult when the two clubs meet.
I have been coaching for about 12 years and can actually tell you where the Whoosh came from. It certainly existed before the bus company took on the slogan… now where was that copyright?
I have been very lucky that I have had excellent examples to learn from. I have spent time on poolside with Mark, Malcolm, Arron and the incredible Gerry Thain at Camp Hill.
My main achievement in swimming is always winning the 5m freestyle race that I have with my daughter Chloe when we go on holiday. I have also been the Worcester County coach of the year on two occasions. Once with Worcester and once more recently with Pershore. However, my proudest moment in swimming was becoming a life member at Worcester.
Outside of swimming , I played cricket at a reasonable level and also enjoyed other sports including Football, golf, cricket, karate and skiing. I am a member at Worcester Rugby and Cricket club and a Birmingham City Supporter. Is there any hope?
Favourite Stroke
Anything over 100m – none of this splash and dash nonsense.
Favourite training set
Any set with an 800 IM or any set without Mark’s abbreviations to decipher.
3 things you couldn’t do without
1. The ladies in my life
2. Roy Thomson’s putter
3. Patrick Hunt’s Pork Pies at Christmas
If you won the lottery, what would you do?
A return trip to Monte Carlo, Vegas, Sydney and Brisbane to try and retrieve some of the money I had previously lost in their casinos.