Surrey Open Swim
Guildford’s Premier Community Swimming Club
Be part of a community swimming from just once a week - learning everything from endurance to racing skills and stroke technique, alongside your friends.
The VY Club
Introducing The VY Club: the new gym-based cross-training hub by Sissy Gasson, running right alongside Surrey Open Swim.
About
The club, the coach & our vision
About the Club
The philosophy is rooted in high energy and a precise focus on technical swimming details. Specialising in small groups and private adult 1-2-1 sessions, training centres on stroke precision, starts and turns, and competition preparation. Youth squads are open from Year 4 to Year 13, offering balanced schedules without mandatory multi-day weekly commitments. On land, specialised gym conditioning and endurance training are open to all abilities, welcoming both youth squads and non-swimming adults looking to build authentic strength, running mechanics, and athletic fitness. Training operates in an encouraging space built entirely on individual progress, fairness, and merit.
About the Coach
Coaching is delivered by Sissy, a fully qualified Swim England Level 2 Coach and teacher with over 10 years of professional experience. Elite foundations were developed through training directly from British Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee and Olympic-level coach mentor Ron Philpot, blending precise swimming mechanics with structured land-conditioning. This is backed by a background as Head Coach at Prior’s Field School, a swim coach at Charterhouse, and past corporate coaching for Deloitte and Channel 4. Having spent over 15 years as an elite long-distance swimmer, personally logging the countless, gruelling hours of continuous training required to take on a solo English Channel swim, the deep, firsthand knowledge of extreme endurance and mental resilience is directly applied to preparing athletes and relay teams for competitions, Ironman triathlons, and conquering the crossing.
Our Vision
Small squads and individual attention mean every swimmer can reach their potential with targeted support. Open to all levels, limited group sizes ensure dedicated focus, helping youth squads and adult 1-2-1 clients perform at their best. The commitment is to build a supportive family environment, developing technical swimming skills alongside long-term confidence, discipline, and resilience.
Memberships & Entry Levels
Youth Sessions · Term membership from £240
Development Squad
EntryYear 4 and above · 25m front crawl
Beginner friendly for swimmers aged 8+, developing endurance and confidence while being taught all four strokes, racing dives and tumble turns, with a focus on strong technique and progression.
Performance Squad
EntryYear 5 and above · 200m · block dive
Focused training to improve speed, endurance and underwater skills, while refining stroke technique, race starts and turns across all four strokes, preparing swimmers for the next level.
Offered across three tiers, please enquire for details.
Elite Squad
EntrySecondary school and above · 500m
High-performance training for swimmers ready to maximise their potential, with longer-distance work, advanced drills, race skills, underwater development and refined technique across all four strokes.
Offered across three tiers, please enquire for details.
Strength & Conditioning
EntryYear 7 and above
Fundamentals of the gym: how to move well, lift safely and build lasting strength, complementing whatever sport a swimmer plays with better power, posture and faster recovery.
Adult Coaching
Adult Sessions
One-to-One Swimming
EntryAll abilities welcome
Personalised lane coaching or video analysis.
One-to-One Personal Training
EntryAll abilities welcome
Land-based strength and conditioning tailored to the individual, building authentic strength, running mechanics and everyday athletic fitness.
Group Swim Lessons
EntryAll abilities welcome
Small-group swim sessions for adults, developing stroke technique, confidence and fitness in the water alongside others at a similar level.
Group Personal Training
EntryAll abilities welcome
Small-group gym sessions on land, building strength, mobility and conditioning together in a supportive, motivating environment.
Contact Us
Enquire below, or reach us directly
VY, an old form of “vie”: to compete, to contend, to strive.
Reviews
Sissy is a fantastic swim coach – calm, encouraging and knowledgeable, while still working the girls hard. My daughter has developed strong technique, grown in confidence and especially loves diving. Swimming has also been brilliant cross-training alongside her athletics and running.
What I value most is that she’s maintained her love of swimming, made great friendships and received excellent coaching without the pressure or commitment of club-level competition. This season, she and her team also came second in the Junior Girls Schools GB Pentathlon – Schools Biathlon UK.
I’d highly recommend Sissy!
Charlotte
A top swim coach who really has taken my swimming to the next level. I cannot recommend Sissy enough, with her pool, open water and English Channel experience. She uses traditional and modern techniques to analyse a swimmer’s stroke and make necessary improvement. All with great humour!
Keith
Distance and successful channel relay swimmer
Sissy has already made a huge difference to my technique and confidence at the start of my cross training for a cross-channel attempt. As a channel and competitive swimmer, she knows what and how to deliver and does so with confidence, consideration and an all-sense of humour.
Helen
Successful solo channel swimmer, 2025
And a final ‘hero moment’ to Sissy. She knows stuff. Quite a lot in fact. Massive thanks. Brilliant stuff.
Tom
Youngest boy to swim the Channel
Coached by the amazing Surrey Open Swim; thank you for your support and knowledge! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Channel 4 SU4C Team
Where We Train
Guildford & the villages
Surrey Sports Park
Surrey Sports Park is a world-class sports facility.
Guildford High School
A dedicated six-lane, 25-metre indoor swimming pool located in its sports centre on London Road.