Head Coach: Sue Manners-Wood
An ex-SA synchronised swimmer with 40 years of coaching experience. Sue has coached multiple club, provincial and national teams.
Sue is a qualified foundation phase teacher, lecturer and Early Childhood Development consultant. She also has a qualification in Learners with Special Needs.
Sue wrote the South African Level 1 Artistic Swimming Course.
She coached the South African team that competed at the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th FINA World Championships.
She has also coached successful SA National Teams at 2 Commonwealth Games, 2 Junior World Championships as well as a Youth World Championships.
She is qualified National Manager having managed teams at both Commonwealth Games and World Championships.
Sue is a former FINA judge and SA AS Technical Committee member. She started the artistic swimming discipline of Barracudas Swimming Club in 2000, and has had very successful results ever since.
Image Right: Sue with swimmers Emma and Laura at the Austrian Open where they achieved a second place finish in 2017.
Coach/Digital Manager: Emma Manners-Wood
Emma started competing at the age of 5. She represented South Africa for the first time in 2005 at Comen Cup. Since then, she has competed at 5 FINA World Championships as well as Austrian and Hungarian Opens.
Recently retired from international competition, and transitioned into Competitive Masters, Emma will be competing in Doha in Masters World Championships later this year. This will be a first for South Africa.
The National Individual Champion for 11 years, Emma started coaching and choreographing at just 16 years old and is also a World Aquatics Qualified G Judge.
Her passion for the sport runs deep and she loves the intricate side of costume design and music cutting as well as her love for coaching and teaching.
Emma has a BSC in Human Physiology as well as a Post Graduate in Management. She is a qualified LTS teacher, and one of only 10 qualified SA AS Level 1 coaches.
Assistant Coach: Tayla-Jade van Huyssteen
Tayla joined us in 2019, from the Eastern Cape to swim a duet with Emma.
She is a qualified Dance Teacher, which brings an exciting aspect to her choreography, coaching, and land sessions with athletes.
Tayla is bubbly and cheerful and brightens the team dynamic.
A South African National Squad member, Tayla has competed at two FINA World Championships as well as Junior World Championships.
Tayla is currently studying Intermediate Phase Teaching. She is also a qualified LTS teacher, and one of only 10 qualified SA AS Level 1 coaches.
