The former Alsager coach of the trailblazing local Olympic swimmer who won three gold and two silver medals at the Paralympic games in Paris, has revealed her road to glory.  

Phil Balcombe coached Poppy from mid-2015 when she was just 10 years old until March 2023 when she was 18 and already a world champion, said despite her obvious talent she was "a very modest swimmer".  

He was a coach at Alsager Swimming Club at Alsager Leisure Centre where Poppy swam and honed her skills during younger days where she was spotted as having amazing talent which Phil predicts will go even further.  

Phil  said: "Poppy is an extremely hard worker.  She probably missed fewer than five sessions in the 10 years that I was her coach. 

"I thought Poppy had the right ingredients to be a good swimmer from day one, but only after she was classified in 2018 did I start to think she would go all the way to the top. 

"Poppy is a very modest swimmer.  Very few of her teammates resented her success and I think they all benefited from her being on the team.  She would even turn up early and help coach the younger swimmers. 

"I have thought for the last five years that Poppy would one day be a paralympic champion and world record holder.  When she went to Paris, I thought she had a good chance of coming away with a couple of medals but I was worried that nerves might get to her. 

"After her first event I thought there was a good chance of medalling in every event but three golds and two silvers is astounding." 

Phil, who has given up coaching and retired, said Poppy is driven.  "After coming 4th at the Commonwealth games behind three British teammates I got the impression that she didn't want to miss out on medals again. 

"I first noticed Poppy when I was head coach at Northwich Centurions.  On a Wednesday evening the club had 3 lanes, and the public had 3 lanes.  I noticed Poppy and her sisters in the public side of the pool and Poppy in particular was listening to my instructions and then swimming up and down the lane rope practising what I had said.   

 "After a few weeks of this I sought out her parents in the spectator area.  I learnt that Poppy swam for Winsford, so I left it at that.  A few weeks later the Maskill's asked if the girls could join Northwich and that is where it all started. 

 "Poppy worked hard on her technique from day one but was always a quiet member of the squad who just kept her head down and worked. I put this down to shyness although she was always a little different to everyone else and when I found out she was autistic I put it down to that.   

 "Late in 2015, during a break in our Saturday land training session I went round the room and asked each swimmer the same question "why do you swim".  This is something we would do each week, with a different question, as a way for me to get to know the swimmers better.   

 "I got the normal answers such as "so I can eat more", "mum tells me to", "fitness for football".  We got to Poppy and she said, "so I will go to the Olympics".  What struck me as unusual is that she said "will" not "want to". 

Phil said over the next few years Poppy progressed getting more and more county qualifying times, her first regional time (50m backstroke) and her first national qualification (1000m open water).   

 "At first, she was just there, but started to get to finals and then to get medals.  All this time Poppy was swimming as an able bodied (i.e non para) swimmer," said Phil. 

 "In 2018 I had to take three weeks off work.  Poppy drew me a get well soon card.   

 "I moved to Crewe Flyers.  Poppy wanted to follow me, but I felt she should stay at Northwich where she had made some friendships over the years.   

 "On my first night at Crewe, I was surprised to see Poppy's parents signing her up for membership.  Poppy's classification came through, confirming her as an S14 swimmer and so we started to go to para swimming events as well as continuing to compete with the rest of the squad as an able-bodied athlete.   

"Poppy was qualifying for every event at the County Championships and getting medals, was getting to finals at regional championships in every stroke except breaststroke as an able-bodied athlete and to national championships as an para athlete including winning several junior multiclassification events at the 2019 British Championships in Glasgow.  Poppy won the Everybody awards "Disabled Sports Achiever" in 2018 

"Things didn't work out well for me at Crewe and I found myself moving to Alsager in 2019.  Once again Poppy followed a few weeks later and had her first taste of international level competition in the world para series event.   

 "Within six months Covid meant that all the pools shut, and I had to coach the club on land training videos to keep their fitness up.  Poppy even got a small pool in their garden, and we were able to do some video training although with limited success. 

On the return to the pool, Poppy made good progress and was winning county and regional medals as an able-bodied swimmer and county champion in the 50m Freestyle.   

"She won her first international medals at the World Para Series event in Aberdeen and was selected to go to the World Para Championships in Madeira as well as the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.   

"She came home with a medal of each colour and was placed on the British Swimming Team.  Poppy became the Everybody awards "Sports Personality of the year in 2021" and the Sports Aid "Emerging Para Athlete of the year in 2022".   

"In late 2022 Poppy was asked to transfer to the National Performance Centre in Manchester.  This was very rare for any athlete under the age of 18 especially so for a para-athlete.  Poppy started to train a couple of times a week in Manchester and in March 2023, after Poppy turned 18, I decided it was time to hang up my stopwatch and let her transition fully to the national squad.   

 "Poppy continues to be a member of Alsager Swimming club, but the vast majority of her training now takes place in Manchester." 

 Alsager Town Council has also congratulated the Olympic swimmer, Poppy Maskill, who won three gold and two silver medals in the Paralympic games, and swam in her youth at Alsager Leisure Centre. 

"We would like to acknowledge and congratulate the most decorated Paralympic of Paris 2024; Poppy Maskill on her amazing achievement of winning 3 gold and 2 silver medals for Great Britain," it said on Social Media.  

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