The last time I spoke with Mandy Dean, she was busy packing up her life in Port Elizabeth in order to pursue a lifelong dream in sailing around the world. While Mandy's name might not be familiar to current triathletes, she is well known in swimming circles as a highly successful coach, and in '80s triathlon circles as a top-ranked and well travelled professional.
But back to the sailing: they say old habits die hard, or better still, one knows their true vocation. And fortunately for Mandy, she's been able to combine both, as she wrote recently:
"I arrived in Grenada by chance in order to help a friend look after a luxury catamaran. As I drove around the Island, I noticed that very few local people swam in the beautiful warm calm ocean. So I asked around and looked up local coach Deb Eastwood. She was away in the USA but said I was her saviour as she needed help urgently. So I went to the pool the next day and started coaching. Initially, I was only standing in for Deb until she got back, but she asked me to stay another month and another. A year and a bit later and I'm still here!
"She has lots of local kids that she had taught over the years and whom had got better and better. She was just waiting for a coach like me to take them to the next level.
"So we created a competitive swim team called "Sailfish," as in "in water we fly." At a recent swim meet, we competed against the other more dominant "Grenfin" team on the other side of the island and caused quite a stir by our performance. Nine of the 34 kids chosen to represent Grenada at the OECS Championships in November came from our Sailfish club."
Yes, once a coach, always a coach.
Well done Mandy! Keep up the great work!
