ALISON SHEPPARD MBE Alison Sheppard has a long list of achievements in swimming. But her most important priority right now is her two sons; Grier and Logan. Grier turned two in November 2007, and Logan was born in September. When she’s not changing nappies or wiping tears and jam off cheeks, she is a fully certified personal trainer, on maternity leave. Her swimming ‘past life’ in the highly competitive sport of swimming speaks volumes for itself. Alison attended her first Olympic Games as a young 15 year old in 1988. She qualified for the British team to Barcelona and Atlanta in 1992 and 1996, and swam at every international competition between the years 1987 and 2004, including the Sydney and Athens Olympics.

Despite her success, Alison had had the same time for 50m freestyle for over 10 years when she met Gary Vandermeulen in Victoria British Columbia, at the Commonwealth Games in August 1994. Alison moved to Canada following the Olympics in 1996 and began a unique partnership with Gary as her coach and partner. Gary’s training programme changed dramatically to adjust to Alison’s specialty when he left the University of Calgary Swim Club in January 1998. It was the best thing that ever happened to them.

From that point onwards, Gary’s programme changed to specifically tailor to Alison’s unique sprinting ability. In January 1998 Alison was ranked 12th in the Commonwealth, and then in September in Kuala Lumpur, Alison won a silver medal in the 50m freestyle. They knew they were on the right track.

The engaged couple then moved to Vancouver Island, to the small town of Duncan with a population of 5000. There they quietly but consistently moved up the world rankings; 51st in 1997, 24th in 1998, 15th in 1999, 6th 2000, 4th 2001, 1st 2002. Impressive results considering the facilities that were used for training were a small 25m pool available from 5am to 7am and a small local gym. In 2004 Alison qualified for her fifth Olympic Games; the first and only female swimmer to ever accomplish this feat of continuous high performance results. Gary was able to hone his coaching skills by teaching every level within the Duncan club, including Alison’s sprint programme. He proudly ensured that every club newsletter acknowledged this fact and the entire team celebrated in their unique team; from ‘learn to swim’ to international medallists.

The long course statistics are matched by short course results. In 2003 Alison was the winner of the FINA World Cup, a prize which goes to the highest scoring female winner with the time closest to the world record using a sliding scale to compare all swimming events over a series of World Cup events. On the Scottish scene Alison continues to hold the Scottish record in every 50m sprint event; butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle, as well as the 100m individual medley. A competence unparalleled in Scottish swimming’s 120 year history.

In 2003 Alison was awarded an MBE for services to swimming.

Alison and Gary’s dream to start a family and then to run her own business is now a reality. This is the beginning of that dream, thanks for being part of it.

GARY VANDERMEULEN: As a swimmer Gary Vandermeulen was ranked in the top five in the world, in five different events in the same year. He continues to be the fastest Canadian swimmer over 800m freestyle, and has held the Canadian record in 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle on numerous occasions. In 1987 Gary was named Canada’s male university swimmer of the year and in 1988 Gary and his younger brother Steven were the first two brothers to compete at an Olympic games in swimming for Canada. At the Olympic Games Gary was a finalist in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Alison Sheppard and Gary met in 1994, the year Gary retired from competitive swimming. Gary was attending the Commonwealth Games in Victoria to watch his brother compete. Alison began swimming in Gary’s training programme after a dismal result in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Her world ranking of 112th in the world in the 50m freestyle began to improve dramatically, and in 2002, at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where Alison was the first female Scot to win a gold medal in over 50 years, finished the year as world ranked #1 in 50m freestyle..

Gary is a UKCC (United Kingdom Coaching Certification) Level III Mentor Coach. He has been coaching since retiring from competitive swimming after swimming on Canada’s national swim team for ten years in 1994. He is currently the West of Scotland Area Institute Swimming Coordinator and has previously been the Tayside & Fife Area Institute High Performance Swimming Coach 2003-2007. Gary has been named Scotland’s BSCTA Swimming Coach of the year, most recently in 2004. He has coached swimmers at every level of swimming, including Olympic medallists and Commonwealth Games gold medallists. He has coached swimmers who have won medals at the Paralympics and has had swimmers earn world records in Masters as well as in Disability Swimming.

In Canada Gary is a tutor for the national ‘Learn to Swim’ programme: ‘I CAN SWIM', and the programme ensuring child safety in sport called ‘Principles of Healthy Child Development’. In Scotland Gary will be an UKCC Level 1 and 2 swimming/teaching Tutor once the UKCC accreditation system is in place in March 2008. Gary has been asked by Scottish Swimming to be a UKCC Level III mentor coach to ensure coaches graduating from that course are of a high standard. Gary continues to be active as a coach, training the Tayside & Fife Combined Area Squads. In addition Gary is proud of the results while in and mentoring all three coaches in Tayside and Fife who put swimmers onto the European Junior Championships team in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Gary regularly coaches swimmers privately who are recreational swimmers, Triathletes and competitive swimmers.

Alison and Gary have started the Sheppard Swim School to ensure a future of great athletes will continue to come out of Scotland’s youth… and more practically, their two young boys will have a great place to learn how to swim! Have your kids join them.