Alongside developing swimmers through our local club and county pathway, the Nottinghamshire County Swim Squad and NOVA Centurion are increasingly attracting ambitious athletes from across the UK and around the
world.

This season alone, we have welcomed swimmers from the United States, Europe and Africa, alongside athletes joining us from across the England.

The ambition is simple: to create one of the strongest performance environments possible for swimming in Nottinghamshire and make Nottingham a destination for ambitious athletes.

Why athletes are choosing NOVA

The growth of the programme is not simply about international recruitment. We are bringing together international athletes, some of the UK’s strongest university swimmers, domestic recruits and swimmers
progressing through our own Nottinghamshire pathway.

They come to Nottingham for different reasons, university, a new training environment, a fresh challenge or the opportunity to train alongside athletes targeting international competition.

But they share the same objective: to become better swimmers.

That combination is what makes the environment powerful.

International athletes bring different experiences and standards. Domestic athletes bring their own ambition and competitiveness. Younger Nottinghamshire swimmers get the opportunity to train alongside athletes they may previously have only watched competing on the TV at major championships.

Everyone raises everyone else’s standards.

The purpose of recruitment is therefore not simply to bring more athletes into Nottingham. It is to make the whole environment better.

When a local swimmer shares a lane with an American collegiate athlete or a senior international, high performance becomes something they experience every day rather than simply watch from a distance. At the same time, athletes joining the programme benefit from the quality of swimmers already being developed within Nottinghamshire

That two-way exchange is at the heart of what we are building.

A proven history. A modern performance environment.

For more than 50 years, NOVA has been at the forefront of swimming in Nottinghamshire, developing athletes who have gone on to compete at national, international, Olympic and Paralympic level.

That history is important, but so is what comes next. Our ambition is not simply to celebrate what NOVA has achieved in the past. It is to build on that legacy by creating a modern, progressive and forward-thinking performance environment that remains at the cutting edge of the sport.

The recent Commonwealth Games cycle provided a great example. NOVA hosted the Zambian Commonwealth Games holding camp, bringing international athletes into our training environment and allowing local swimmers to train alongside athletes preparing to represent their country.

That included our own Zach Moyo, who was part of the Zambian Commonwealth Games group while continuing his development with NOVA alongside his undergraduate studies.

These experiences expose our swimmers to international standards while demonstrating the quality of the environment available to visiting athletes.

Our ambition is to provide opportunities across the full spectrum of swimming, from 50-metre sprint events through to 1500-metre distance swimming, as well as every stroke and open water.

Whether an athlete is a local swimmer progressing through the pathway, a university athlete or an international competitor, we want them to have access to an environment that challenges convention, embraces new ideas and gives them the best possible opportunity to reach their potential.

Combining performance and education

Our relationship with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University is another important part of that environment.

Swimmers can combine serious performance ambitions with undergraduate or postgraduate study, making Nottingham increasingly attractive to student-athletes from the UK and overseas.

For some, Nottingham is their university destination. For others, it provides an opportunity to continue their swimming career while studying or to establish themselves in a new high-performance environment.

Finn Brooks: another international athlete choosing Nottingham

One of the latest athletes to join the programme is American swimmer Finn Brooks, who is training with the Nottinghamshire County Swim Squad and NOVA Centurion as he prepares for the 2026 USA Swimming Short Course World Championship Trials.

A former Indiana University swimmer and American All-Star, Finn competed at a high level in the US collegiate system and is now completing his master’s degree while using Nottingham as his training base.

He has also recently returned from working with Gary Hall Sr. and The Race Club, adding another dimension to his preparation. Last season, Finn finished fifth at the US Long Course Nationals, and his immediate
focus is now on putting himself in contention for the USA’s Short Course World Championship team.

For Finn, Nottingham provides a high-performance environment surrounded by swimmers with national and international ambitions.

For Nottinghamshire, his arrival represents something equally valuable.

Finn is one of many,

“The programme is incredible. From the coaches to the level of talent, there’s such a great environment here. Having young swimmers training alongside older, experienced athletes creates something really special, and I felt at home straight away. I’ve never experienced anything quite like this in America.”

Finn Brooks

Raising the standard of Nottinghamshire swimming

Finn’s story is a great example of what is happening, but the bigger story is the environment we are creating.

Our ambition is to continue bringing together Nottinghamshire swimmers, domestic athletes and international athletes who want to challenge themselves and reach the next level.

International recruitment isn’t separate from developing local swimming.

It is one of the ways we make local swimming stronger.

Every athlete who joins adds something to the programme. Every local swimmer gets another opportunity to learn, compete and raise their expectations of what is possible.

Finn may have arrived in Nottingham with ambitions of representing the USA.

But by training here, he is also contributing to something bigger: an increasingly ambitious, diverse and competitive performance environment that is raising the standard of swimming across Nottinghamshire.