• Announcement 1/2: The School swimming pool will re-open on Friday 10th February.
  • Announcement 2/2: The Junior School is closed for Half Term from 11.55am on Friday 10th February until Monday 20th February.Have a great half term!!
Home › Contact Details and Staff Profiles › Mark Whalley - Swimming Master

Mark Whalley - Swimming Master

 

After recovering from a form of polio which had paralysed me for several months I became involved and developed a keen interest in sports during my early years in junior school, not only swimming but also football and Athletics. Always a keen participant, it was actually Athletics where I achieved my best successes, breaking many records in high jump, long jump and 100m.

Mark Whalley

Following in the footsteps of Sir Paul McCartney I went to The Liverpool institute High School for Boys. Sadly that's where our lives' comparisons end.

After O Levels I went on to serve my time as a motor mechanic before realising that lying underneath dripping wet cars in the freezing cold winter was not for me.

I was forced to give up most of my athletics, swimming and football after a freak accident left me with severed ligaments in my mid twenties. After several professions, I went back to studying, but it was a desire to help my own children that led me to want to understand more of the science of sport. I studied anatomy physiology and biomechanics and later Sports Psychology at Newcastle.

By 1993 I was working around 20 hours a week on a voluntary basis with a local swimming club coaching children and had risen to the rank of swimming coach within the Amateur Swimming Association, a member of the Institute of Swimming Teachers and Coaches, and of the British Coaches Association.

My efforts and achievements had been recognised and I was invited to take up a position at Merchant Taylors' Schools in 1995. Excited at the challenge I gave up a full time job without any hesitation to work here for what was initially only 8 hours a week.