A WAVE of support swept through Bournemouth Dolphins yesterday as demands grew for head coach Graham Bassi to withdraw his resignation.

Club officials have agreed to meet parents of swimmers at Littledown tomorrow in a bid to thrash out the future of a club that has been in turmoil since Bassi decided to quit earlier in this week.

Chris Poynter, whose son Joe won several medals at this summer's national age group championships, said: "None of the swimmers want him to leave and I haven't spoken to any parents who do either.

"Graham may not be the easiest person to get on with but he is such a good coach and has already taken this club to places it has never been before.

"There is a lot of support for Graham but also quite a lot for chairman Ken Joy and we are looking to him to resolve things with Graham.

"We are hoping Graham can reverse his decision. If it's not broke, why try to fix it?"

Bassi arrived for yesterday's training session at Littledown to find the club notice board littered with messages of support from more than 30 young swimmers.

Soon after, the club lifted the gagging order that had prevented the head coach from discussing his resignation with the Press.

Bassi, who has just spent two weeks on an experience-gathering visit to coaching programmes in the US, said: "I returned to my home programme to find that the tools that I need to take this club to the top were gradually slipping away from me.

"Whether this was down to misunderstanding between myself and the committee needs to be investigated.

"But I felt it was in the best interests of the club that I stepped down and let them pursue their own philosophy.

"The overwhelming support from the parents and swimmers in the last couple of days has been very rewarding.

"The messages on the board made me quite emotional and reminded me that this club is all about the swimmers.

"I came to Bournemouth to take the club to elite level. The job is not yet half-done but to complete it I need the total support of the parents and committee and the total commitment of all the swimmers."

He added: "Of course there will be differences of opinion but I won't compromise on my beliefs.

"Although that could upset a few members, I know it will benefit the club as a whole.

"I really want to stay with this club and I am hoping that at Sunday's meeting the members and committee can resolve the issues to allow me to take the club to the top of British swimming."

Bassi was this week named by British Swimming among a select group of coaches whose knowledge and skills are to be specially developed in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics.