Titans a home from home for Jon Pardoe

Just seven years later, Ellesmere College Titans Swimming Club is producing international medallists and is over-subscribed.

The club, which was officially formed in 2008, has seen members reach the podium at the European Youth Olympics Festival.

That's as well as the Commonwealth Youth, Commonwealth Games and the World Championships.

And they are building for an equally glorious future with plans to develop a new 50m pool in the coming years.

It has been a rapid rise for the club and when asked how it began, it was a family affair for the club's director of swimming Pardoe.

He said: "I had two young kids – Alfie who is now 17 and Hector who is now 14 – who did swimming. They trained at Whitchurch Wasps and I started coaching there.

"I was fortunate enough to sell my insurance business in 2005, so I could devote more time to that and I built a 20 metre training pool at my home.

"A couple of the kids from Whitchurch Wasps started training at the pool and they were only eight, nine or 10 but they went on and dominated at the county championships and started really progressing.

"That was how the club came about but we only had a 20m three-lane pool and one changing room.

"It was not practical to keep running the club from there once numbers started to swell, so I got talking to Ellesmere College's headmaster Brendan Wignall.

"I used to swim and I was training at the Ellesmere Primary School pool, where I met the rugby coach at Ellesmere College who introduced me to Brendan.

"They were just refurbishing their own pool at the time. It had been an outdoor pool and they were putting a roof on.

"They told me 'why don't you come and continue what you are doing out of Ellesmere College?'

"I told them I would do it, provided I could keep it fairly autonomous because I wanted anyone to be able to join, not just pupils at the school.

"About 95 per cent of members now go to the school but, when we started, it was about 10-20 per cent.

"We started out in 2008 with just 12 members and an average age of nine or 10. We have just continued progressing and progressing from there."

There has certainly been plenty of that made in the ensuing years, and the club can now boast 56 members spanning three teams.

The national development squad is for swimmers in school year 10 and above, while the age group performance squad is for swimmers aged 12-15.

The age group development squad, for athletes aged eight-12. completes the triumvirate, while the club also runs a learn to swim programme.

It's for younger children which aims to teach them the basics, with a view to eventually becoming competitive swimmers.

Swimmers receive up to 20 hours of training a week, encompassing up to nine practice sessions with the Titans' six-strong coaching team. It includes early morning, afternoon and evening sessions.

Aside from Pardoe, the coaching staff also includes international medallists Alan and Steffi Bircher as well as level three coach Tim Hastie, assistant coach Mark Southward and former Olympian Darren Mew.

The club's rigorous training regime has produced some superb results on the biggest stages in the world.

Among the biggest highlights were when 14-year-old Ellinor Southward claimed 4 x 100m medley relay silver and 100m backstroke bronze at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Georgia in August.

Another occurred last week when Tazmin Pugh won three medals at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa.

The 15-year-old struck silver in the 4 x 200m relay and bronze in the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly.

Charlie Hutchinson, 13, also set two new records on his way to British Junior Championship medals.

They came in both the 200m butterfly and 400 individual medley while Olympian Chris Walker-Hebborn won two gold medals – 100m backstroke and 4x100m medley relay – at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 2014.

Callum Jarvis, who is also a member, won 4x200m gold at the world championships in Russia last month.

The last two names on that illustrious list got involved with the club in their late teens, when they began coaching the younger swimmers.

They still both swim for Ellesmere College in the National Arena Swimming League and their involvement with the club provides plenty of inspiration for the next generation of potential senior stars.