Academy Team​

​Maz Spruce​:  Academy Head  Coach

​ Maz trained as a swimmer at Hillingdon Borough for many years and started helping out at the club from a young age, completing her pool helper course at 14 and level 1 teaching qualification at 16.
She taught swimming until she left for university to train as a children’s nurse in Oxford. 
​She has two children at AVSC and they moved from WWHSC in 2023, where she did her Level 1 coaching course and coached in Academy. She is complete her Level 2 coaching course and the Head of Academy.

​Dave Lowe

I have been involved in swimming pretty much all of my life. Initially as a competitive swimmer I then moved to the teaching and coaching side of the sport. I hold Level 1 teaching and Level 2 coaching qualifications. I have coached at AVSC on an almost daily basis for many years and also
teach a wide range of swimmers with Abingdon Dolphins Swim Club.
I believe that excellent technique is fundamental to excellence in swimming and will encourage and motivate my swimmers to aim high in order to help them achieve their full potential.

Emma Slaughter

My involvement with swimming began in 2022 when my daughter joined AVSC. I took over the Kit Team the following year and led it for two years before stepping down to focus on coaching. I'm also a qualified J1 Swimming Official—volunteering at meets is a great way to stay involved, and the community is incredibly welcoming!
​I started coaching by helping poolside with the youngest swimmers, learning from experienced coaches and doing my own research. I’m now a qualified Level 1 Assistant Coach and hope to complete my Level 2 soon. I love working with our Academy swimmers—watching them grow as athletes is so rewarding. While we are a competitive club, my main goal is to help every swimmer develop a lifelong love of the sport.

Danny Amphlett

I’m a Level 2 Swimming Coach and Level 2 Swimming Teacher, with around 10 years of experience coaching swimmers at all levels. I was a competitive swimmer myself, with the 100m breaststroke and 5km Open Water being my favourite events.
 While I still enjoy swimming for fun, my main forms of exercise these days are in the gym or on the climbing wall.I’ll leave you with a favourite quote from world record-holding swimmer Ross Edgley:
“Be naive enough to start and stubborn enough to finish.”

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​To contact the AVSC Academy, please email us on [email protected]