The Executive Committee of the Woden Valley Swim Club welcomes the appointment of Yuriy Vdovychenko by The Y to the position of Head Coach of our fantastic and growing club. This has been a highly anticipated appointment and we are so excited to be on track for swimmers to train, compete and achieve their personal and sporting goals in the coming years. Yuriy will join us on pool deck from Thursday 2 December 2021, together with our Assistant Coach Chelsea, and support team.
Yuriy’s experience is impressive, working with swimmers at all levels and most recently coaching elite para swimmers representing Australia at international competitions including the Tokyo Paralympics. Yuriy is keen to meet all of our swimmers and work with our coaching crew and swimmers and the families in the coming months, particularly in our Gold squad, and will also be up for a chat at our Christmas get together later next month.
On behalf of the club, the Executive would like to acknowledge the unfailing support of Steve, who over the last 6 months with the support of the coaching team Nat, Karl, Nick, Alex and Chelsea has ensured Woden has not only survived but thrived as we looked to secure a permanent Head Coach. Steve’s energy and dedication to our club and swimmers to help them achieve their best is always his focus, and because of this and we are keen to keep Steve actively involved with the club moving forward to whatever degree suits him. Noting one of the new challenges Steve will take on will be setting up the clubs Masters, Swim Fit and Tri programs, so he will still be a familiar face on pool deck for the time being.
A little more about Yuriy
Yuriy is a very experienced coach with extensive knowledge in swim coaching and managing both able bodied and Paralympic swimmers at the club, national and international level. He also has experience working with Masters and Triathletes at a club, national and international level. Yuriy is an Advanced (previously Silver) License Coach and has been accredited by Swimming Australia since 2003.
Currently Yuriy is in the process of obtaining his Performance (previously Gold) License. On arrival in Australia Yuriy coached at Ginninderra Swimming Club, Tuggeranong Vikings, and then was Head Coach at Queanbeyan Swimming Club for 4 years. For the last 8 years Yuriy has been working for Swimming Australia’s National Training Centre (NTC) at the AIS as Head Coach of the Paralympic Program. In 2014 he was awarded with Swimming Australia and ASCTA Paralympic Program Coach of the Year. In 2018 he was awarded Commonwealth Games Paralympic Coach of the Meet.
Over the course of Yuriy’s coaching at the NTC from 2013 to 2021 his athletes won 47 medals at the highest level of international competitions, including (1 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze) at the Rio Paralympic Games and (1 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze) at the recent Tokyo Paralympic Games.
Yuriy started his career in the Ukraine where he was awarded with Honours ‘Coach of the Ukraine’ in 1998 and ‘Honoured Worker’ of Physical Education and Sports, by the President of the Ukraine in 2000. This is equivalent to the Order of Australia, for outstanding achievement and service to sport.
Yuriy has a Master’s Degree in Coaching and Sports Administration with distinction, and prior to arriving in Australia he held the position of Senior Coach of the Dnipropetrovsk State Institute of Sport for 13 years and for 11 years he was the Head Coach of the Ukrainian Paralympic Swim team. His athletes won numerous medals at the National and International competitions.
Yuriy was born in the Ukraine and since his childhood he was and continues to be a keen swimmer. From the age of seven, he was a member of his local swimming club. Then by the age of thirteen, he was training seriously and was competing on the national level, and won two gold medals for 400 and 1500 Free at the Age National Championships. Following this, Yuriy was selected for the Soviet Union Youth National Swimming Team. Then at the age of fourteen, he won bronze for the 1500 Free at the European Youth Championships. When he was seventeen Yuriy was the Ukrainian Champion, and won a silver medal for 50 Fly and bronze for the 4×100 Medley at the Soviet Union Swimming Cup. Yuriy liked all strokes, because one of his favourite races was the 200 IM.
Yuriy is very excited and looking forward to start working with our club to share his expertise that he has gained at the international level with all of our swimmers and coaches, assisting them achieve their personal performance goals. Yuriy is married; his wife Iryna is the Athletics Australia Senior Coach at the AIS. Yuriy and Iryna have a daughter Anastasia.
Yuriy’s coaching philosophy: Get skills right first, then get speed, then get fit and have fun swimming fast at
the competitions!