Head Coach – Dion Walmsley
Dion is the Head Coach of the River City Swimming Club as well as coach of the Somerville House QGSSSA team and is permanently based at the Somerville Sports & Aquatic Centre.
Dion first started at Somerville in 1998 when the club was in its infancy. Since that time Dion has been involved in Local, Regional, State and National level swimming, both in the development phases and in team selection. In regards to the school swimming, Somerville House have placed either first or second in the prestigious QGSSSA competition eight times while Dion has been Head Coach.
Dion’s involvement in swimming started back in 1984 in Perth where he gained his Austswim accreditation and started working as a swimming teacher.
In 1986 he moved to New Zealand where, for the next 5 years, he worked towards and completed two degrees – a Bachelor of Physical Education and a Bachelor of Science (Anatomy). During his time at the University he worked as a swimming teacher and assistant coach at the Waterhole Swimming Club in Auckland. He played water polo for the Otago University and at this time started competing in Triathlons and managed to struggle through the New Zealand Ironman Triathlon. He did make a brief comeback to triathlons recently and actually went quicker in the Australian Ironman Champs at 42 than he did in Auckland at 21! He is now heavily involved in Crossfit and has recently completed the Crossfit Trainer certification.
At the completion of his studies he moved to Queensland and took over the role of Head Coach at Jindalee Swim Club. He remained in this role for 10 years before moving to Somerville. Since his time at Somerville he has continued his studies and has completed a B.Ed and a M.App.Sc. in Coaching. He also lectures part-time at the AIAS in Sport and Fitness.
Recognition of Dion’s success as a Coach who develops swimmers has seen him involved in many developmental squads at Regional, State and National level. 2010 saw him being selected for several teams and positions including Qld National State teams competition as Head Male Coach, the Junior Pan Pacs, the QAS/SQ China Youth Nationals and the SAL National Talented Coaching Staff.
Dion is married to Kym and they have 3 children – Kayla, Shea and Xanthe.
