FOCUS: Teenage swimmer hoping to win Jersey’s first Commonwealth Games medal in 36 years

Most teenagers do not have to contend with the competitive pressure, attention-to-detail and relentless discipline that accompanies elite level sport.

But at just 18 years old, Jersey’s Filip Nowacki has already found his stride in a world dominated by high expectations and constant preparation.

Currently at Millfield school in Somerset, he balances the demands of studying, training and competing as he looks to continue building a swimming career that already includes a notable collection of gold medals achieved on some of the sport’s biggest stages.

More recently, this includes his first British senior title – when he delivered a milestone performance in the 200m breaststroke at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April.

The Commonwealth Games and the European Championships are among the many major events Filip has his sights set on this year.

But the foundations for his success were laid back in the Island, where he initially swam at the Jersey Swimming Club before joining the Tigers Swimming Club at 11 years old.

“Tigers really taught me how to properly work hard and show up and what it means to be determined and consistent – and that consistency and hard work really pays off,” he said.

“And back in Tigers, I had a great group of boys to train with. There were about four or five of us who really pushed each other day in and day out, both in the pool [and] in the gym.

“We were all a very competitive bunch – none of us really like to lose, we all love winning. Every training session was just like a race and we really brought the best out of each other from year seven to year 11.”

Tiger’s head coach is Nathan Jegou, the recent winner of the British Swimming Coaches Association’s Coaching Award of Excellence and previous winner of the CI Sports Awards Coach of the Year, and has worked with Filip over a long period.

He explained that Filip was among a “strong group” of swimmers who had shown “a real desire to learn quickly”, a trait that shone through even during the height of the Covid pandemic when the usual training schedule was temporarily replaced by online coaching and fitness sessions outside of the pool.

Nathan said: “I think they empowered each other because they were a good group. And then, when we could, we obviously started going back into the performance programme in terms of being able to race locally, and then being able to race at counties, and then regionals and nationals, and every time he wanted a little bit more. 

“Once 2022 came around, we were looking at, can he make an international team? And obviously, we were not necessarily just chatting about international swimming but it was like, what is the next step? Where do we want to go? How do we want to do this?”

One of the challenges that can sometimes emerge when coaching – particularly with a younger athlete – is the balancing act between ensuring they keep pushing the boundaries of their potential, while also maintaining the long-term sustainability and enjoyment of their craft.

Nathan highlighted the value of establishing short, medium and long-term goals.

“We would plan that and be like, right, what is the four-year cycle? What is the two-year cycle? What is the one-year cycle? Making sure the one-year cycle is probably something that is achievable that season.

“Again, the whole group had that – we would chat about it and say, right, by the end of this time next year, what do you want to have achieved? In two years’ time, what else does that look like? 

“I go back to just empowering them.”

According to Nathan, the public perception of coaching can often overlook the “personable” approach involved.

“Everyone always thinks we just want to win. I genuinely would rather see the kid be happy and be content than be bothered by their performance.

“We try really hard as a club to talk about that and say, it is not linear, you are not going to be great every week – and life is not like that either.”

Coaches can also play a role in guiding someone to take an important next step – with Filip explaining that it was Nathan who originally recommended that he move to boarding school.

“We were in Trinidad and Tobago for the Youth Commonwealth Games in summer of 2023 and he recommended that I, almost transition into the next step of my career, to really elevate my game where I would be able to compete potentially to a higher standard and I would have everything more available to me.

“With the facilities here, the 50-metre pool, everything’s really integrated with school, with gym. I have gym in my school times here, so everything works really well together and it’s almost seamless.”

Since September 2024 he has been coached by Keiron Piper at Millfield.

Filip contended that the relationship between athlete and coach “should be very 50/50”. 

“When a training programme is written, especially as you get older, it is not just about what the coach says – it is about what the swimmer says as well.

“There will be weeks where I have three or four A levels that [means] I probably can’t do a whole week of training. So I think it is about managing what times I train, managing my load both in and out the pool, including the gym.

“I think the communication is very important, not just from the coach’s side, but also the swimmer’s side.”

He also said he believed it is possible to build the foundations of an effective coach-athlete relationship “very quickly”.

“But I think the longer you are with a coach and the more you experience with a coach, the more you learn about each other and the more the coach learns about you and how you react in certain situations.

“Under pressure, not under pressure, when you are feeling good, when you are not feeling good – and also the athlete learns about the coach.”

Asked whether he anticipated getting to a position where he would be sharing his own advice and guidance with future generations of swimmers, Filip said: “I have definitely been the one asking the questions for the majority of my life, just because I am still quite young – and in the grand scheme of things, I am still rather inexperienced in comparison to some of the senior swimmers.

“But now being part of the AP Race team, it is truly special, because I get to be on the other side and I get to feed my wisdom through into the up-and-coming juniors, or the up-and-coming children that are coming up through the sport.”

And for Filip, the lessons learned through swimming extend well beyond the pool.

“Sport has taught me a lot about myself and a lot about how consistency, determination, motivation – all these values help you achieve bigger things in life.

“So I think being consistent, determined and motivated, like I mentioned before, is important and it directly translates into my future life and into everyone’s life. Essentially, the more you put in, the more you will get out.”