One of Scotland’s top coaches for a quarter of a century, she had battled cancer for the last few years but continued to accomplish so much, being appointed performance coach for the City of Glasgow Swim Team and named as a finalist in this year’s Scots Sportswoman of the Year.
Among her greatest successes are current Olympian Robbie Renwick, who she coached from the age of eight, and double Commonwealth champion David Carry. But thousands of other talented young swimmers are testament to her skills and her passion for the sport.
Determined and tenacious, she had a heart of gold, although she did not suffer fools gladly. She gave 110% and expected commitment in return. Always ready to support her fellow coaches and athletes, she was popular and highly-respected across the swimming world.
She was brought up on the south side of Glasgow, the younger daughter of parents Isobel and Ian, and attended Hutchesons’ Grammar.
She married Graham Adams in 1975 and the couple had three of a family. Adams began coaching when she took her own children swimming and, in her own words, “realised that people didn’t know what they were doing”.
She described herself as just an average mum who got bitten by the bug and was exhilarated by coaching. She trained Barrhead Dolphins before moving to Aberdeen in the 1990s where she developed and led the highly-successful City of Aberdeen Swim Team (COAST) programme which produced several national and international champions, including Renwick who was only ever coached by Adams.
She returned to her home city in 2008, initially on secondment from Scottish Swimming, to establish and lead a performance squad at the City of Glasgow Swim Team (COGST).
During the next year the city moved from 10th to third in Scotland. She was appointed to COGST in that same role only last August.
It was her dream job and Adams, who had campaigned in vain for a 50m pool in Aberdeen, arrived for interview armed with a document outlining her vision – now her
legacy – for the team.
She later told the media: “After Beijing, I knew that I needed to find somewhere for training that has a 50m pool, and I am delighted to be moving to Glasgow for the foreseeable future.
“Glasgow is my home town and I could not be more passionate about ensuring Scottish swimmers have the chance of success at the 2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”
She travelled all over the world to provide her swimmers with the best possible preparation for the big events and would do everything in her power to provide the right training, facilities and environment to ensure her they had the greatest chance of achieving their potential.
David Carry, who was coached by her from 1994 to 2002, described her as the biggest influence on his swimming career: “She made a massive difference to me from such a young age and it is a real loss and a total tragedy.”
As a coach she was utterly dedicated to the sport, once saying: “You don’t get up at 4.30am for training if you don’t love what you do. The day I stop loving it is the day I’ll stop.” Despite her illness she was still poolside in February and remained in contact, contributing to the programme even in her last few weeks.
Adams is survived by her mother Isobel, sister Mary, daughter Laura and son Ian. She was being buried in the graveyard at Banchory-Devenick alongside her middle child, teenage son Alan, who was killed in a road accident.
