Within the past two months Paul Haley, from Tenby, has been appointed chairman of Pembrokeshire County Swimming, taking over from long-standing chairman Phill Thomas from Pembroke – and realises that he has a big pair of shoes to fill.
 
“But I have shadowed Phill’s work for a while and filled in when Mr Thomas couldn’t make it so I have been able to learn a great deal from a top man before I agreed to become chairman.
 
“I feel it's a big challenge and responsibility but it's something I've become passionate about and have gained some experience as chairman of Tenby Dolphins over the last two and a half years after a previous spell on the committee.
“I then went as club representative on the county committee and I know that if I need advice Phill isn’t a million miles away to ask for advice!”
 

Early start - and recent return

 
“I first got into swimming at the age of eight at Tenby Dolphins - where the current ‘Learn to Swim’ programme had become part of the club structure. I think I was only there about a year or so because frankly I wasn’t very good and it was almost a case of survival as I was practising alongside others who could leave me trailing in their wake – and one of the girls who could do that with consummate ease was my wife Gemma!
 
“But after a break of about 25 years I got back into it through my daughters. Arabella (14) displayed a talent for swimming, clearly inherited from her mother’s side, and she has progressed to swim for Wales and is currently ranked inside the top 25 in Britain on backstroke for her 14 and under age category.
 
“Roxy (8) is in to a lot of sports but is already showing signs of being a good swimmer – and is quicker at her age than Arabella was!
 

Sporting family

 
Paul hails from a sporting family because his dad Jeff was a semi-professional footballer in London back in the late 60's and when the family moved back to Tenby he played for and managed New Hedges & Saundersfoot, winning the Senior Cup in the early 80's, whilst his mum Chris was a keen bowler who represented Wales on a few occasions in the home international series - and was considered to be one of the best bowlers around this area until arthritis and a knee replacement halted her progress.
 
“Chris is now a keen helper with the girls’ participation in sport, alongside Gemma’s parents, Marcel and Cherry Goodridge. With our complicated arrangements for transporting those around we couldn’t do without them,” admits Paul with a chuckle!
 

Complex arrangements

 
And a measure of how complicated the travel is, and the commitment needed, can be gauged from the fact that on two mornings a week Paul and Arabella travel from Tenby at 5.15am in readiness for a 6am start with coach Craig Weston and the rest of the Pembrokeshire Development Squad.
 
Then it’s back to Tenby so Arabella can go to school, and then Paul has to return to the county town where he lectures in carpentry at the Pembrokeshire College. There’s also a similar training regime needed several evenings a week and on top of that Paul sometimes goes in to Haverfordwest Leisure Centre on Saturday mornings if Craig needs a help with the coaching!
 

Taking up coaching

 
All this seems a long way from the moment he set out in support of Arabella. As he told us:
“I spent many hours on the balcony of Tenby Leisure Centre watching my daughter swim - until I was asked by a lady called Sarah Hicks to come onto poolside and help out.
 
“So I did the relevant course and passed my level one exam with John Ross in Milford Haven and am now a level two swimming coach after a tough course under Michelle Jones in Swansea, which was far more complex and dealt with matters like anatomy, training zones and lots of other technical stuff.
 
“Since then I have always loved being poolside, not least because it is something of a follow on from my teaching at Pembrokeshire College – and I’ve even got back into the pool and getting better in the water!”

Major sporting love – Golf!

 
But Paul’s big sporting love though has always been golf, starting out from the time he was about 11 and used to take one of Jeff’s clubs down onto the South Beach and knocked a ball around – and one day a man walking his dog asked Paul what his handicap was.
 
Paul didn’t know what that meant or where the local club was – but the man turned out to be Ray Muskett, who took Paul and his own son, also named Paul, to Tenby Golf Club, where he was a member.
 
“I took a while to settle on grass,” admitted Paul, “but with lots of help from the late Billy Farrell and encouragement from Ben Childs it finally clicked and I was on the way
to getting down to a handicap of +2 and being a scratch golfer for nearly 20 years.
 

Great help from Bill and Ben!

 
“Billy was the junior organiser, with the best swing I ever saw and he really inspired me, whilst Ben was a bit of a hero of mine and not only had time to chat but showed me how to make the best of my natural ability with positive thinking to round things off.
 
“As a nipper I won the South Wales Junior Golf Championships at Clyne and as time went on I was able to win trophies, including the 1991 Scratch Cup, when I was 20, beating my mentor Billy in the final.
 
“I went on to win it five times, including four in a row from 2001-4, which was a record at the time – until Billy Morris won it for the next five years!
 

Successes galore – and a special annual event

 
“I eventually won the club’s stroke play competition, played over 36 holes for the Copp Cup, on six occasions and other highlights include getting to the final of the Welsh team championships and Victory Shield competitions, whilst a disappointment has to be twice reaching the final of the Dyfed Championships, firstly against Tom Williams in Carmarthen but losing by a single shot, and then at Ashburnham to Paul ‘Reload’ Davies of Haverfordwest.
 
“Another honour was playing for the Dyfed Golf team from 1993 until 2013, and captaining the team for the last two years against the likes of Glamorgan, Gwent, Brecon & Radnor, Gloucestershire and in the Inter-Counties event. Dyfed stretched from Aberystwyth to Burry Port so I had quite a job selecting the team and organising venues for ‘home’ matches!”
 
“We had other good young  golfers like Johnny Morris, Gareth Rees, Brynley Hurle  and Gavin Scotcher playing in Tenby and although I miss playing on a regular basis I still meet up for one weekend a year with Gareth and Brynley to play at a Ryder Cup venue.
 
“Last year we played at Turnberry and I was delighted to finish up just one over par - and we have previously competed at Carnoustie (Scotland), Port Rush (Ireland) and Royal St Georges (Kent).
 

And finally . . .

 
“Nowadays the swimming takes up all of my time so I've had to put the clubs in the shed for a while - I do miss it - and will hopefully go back to it at some time.”


So now Paul is putting heart and soul into county swimming, with Sharon Whalley as new Hon Secretary, and with both liaising with the six clubs that help make up the county swimming.
 
He tends to speak to Craig Weston on a regular basis and if you wanted proof of Paul Haley’s commitment then look no further that a recent trip to Stockport where he was not only team manager and assistant coach for the day – but drove the mini-bus there and back as well!