Welcome to the January edition of the Swim Ireland Newsletter. We've had a busy start to the new year with swimmers, divers and water polo players all in action. We were delighted to be one of the highest funded sports announced at Sport Ireland's Funding Announcement this week, while earlier in the month Oliver Dingley made history winning 3M Gold at the British Diving Championships and our swimmers excelled at the Euro Meet in Luxembourg. Check out updates from our Performance, Water Polo, Clubs, Participation, Young People and Education Departments as we start 2018 with a bang!
Sport Ireland Announces 2018 NGB and Performance Funding
Sport Ireland has announced its investment package for National Governing Bodies for Sport and High Performance Programmes in 2018. The announcement was made by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin TD, at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena on Thursday.
In total funding of €20.7m was announced which includes €10.8m to be invested in the core activity of National Governing Bodies for Sport (NGBs), €600k to Women in Sport programmes delivered by NGBs, €7m in NGB High Performance programmes. Swim Ireland are delighted to have secured €827K in Core, €65K Women in Sport, €560K Performance and €107,500 in Dormant Account Funding for 2018
Divers in Impressive Form at British Championships
Irish divers got their 2018 campaigns underway with a number of impressive performances at the British Diving Championships in Plymouth. Rio 2016 Olympian Oliver Dingley led the charge with a Gold medal win in the 3M Springboard with an Irish Record points score of 447.10 and qualifications scores for the FINA World Cup and European Championships. Oliver had also collected 1M Silver on Friday. Shamrock Diving Clubs Clare Cryan also got the year off to a good start taking Bronze in the 1M Springboard.
Oliver and Clare along with Jack Ffrench, Anna Power, Ciara McGing, Laura Valore and Francesca Doran now travel to Eindhoven for the Senet Cup taking place this weekend.
National Performance Pathway Squad Medal, Final & Deliver PBs at Euro Meet
Swim Ireland had a group of 35 swimmers from our National Performance Pathway and Commonwealth Games Squads compete at the Euro Meet in Luxembourg last weekend. 819 swimmers entered from 126 Teams across 26 Nations. The meet saw Ireland’s youngsters compete against some of Europe’s best swimmers including Swede Sarah Sjöström and Great Britain’s Adam Peaty.
Swimmers showed impressive form collecting 5 Junior and 13 Youth medals and making a number of A and B Finals. Finn McGeever, Victoria Catterson, Rachel Bethal and Jack McMillan also set a new Irish Record of 3:41.97 in the Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay!
Congratulations to the team who represented Ireland so well on the European stage!
National Performance Squad & Commonwealth Games Team Training Camp
From December 30th to January 10th 14 athletes travelled to Club La Santa, Lanzarote as part of a joint SI National Performance Squad and Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Team Camp. It was an ideal venue to begin preparations for the Commonwealth Games and Irish Open Championships in April.
Athletes were supported by Ben Higson, SI National Head Coach, Andrew Reid, SI National Performance Pathway Manager, Paul Dennis, Head Coach Bangor SC, Norma Reid, Team Manager and two members of the Sports Institute Northern Ireland staff.
The team very much focused on being EXCELLENT throughout the camp in terms of punctuality, respect for themselves, respect for others and respect for the facilities, recovery, nutrition and giving 100% to everything that they did.
All the athletes have returned to Ireland in a better physical place than they left and their Vitamin D levels have been topped up!
While on the camp, Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games announced a team of 88 athletes across 13 sports, including 9 swimmers, who will represent Northern Ireland at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia. Congratulations to the team of swimmers who will compete from April 4th - 15th.
Aquatics Team
Calum Bain (University of Stirling & Cookstown ASC), James Brown (Loughborough & Ards ASC), Curtis Coulter (Bangor ASC), Conor Ferguson (National Centre Dublin & Bangor ASC), Jamie Graham (University of Stirling & Bangor ASC), Danielle Hill (Larne ASC), Barry McClements (Ards ASC), Jordan Sloan (Bangor ASC), David Thompson (Bangor ASC) Coaches: Andy Reid and Paul Dennis
St. Vincents and Clonard Claim Irish U17 Cups
Congratulations to St Vincents Girls and Clonard Boys who claimed U17 Irish Water Polo Cup victories at the Lisburn Lesiureplex last weekend.
St Vincents came out on top in the Girls Final after a fantastic 5-3 win over Tribes A, while the Clonard Boys won a thriller against St. Vincents 10-9.
In the girls bronze medal game Diamonds beat Clontarf 6-3 while Corrib overcame Clontarf 11-7 in the boys match.
Get Ireland Swimming
Our ‘Get Ireland Swimming’ initiative got underway in January with over 1,300 Children in primary schools in Dublin, Wexford and Cork taking to the pool for swimming lessons using Swim Ireland's new School Learn to Swim Programme. Each child received a Swim Ireland goodie bag at the start of the lessons with a hat and goggles to support their swimming development.
This initiative is funded through Pobal, Sport Ireland, Healthy Ireland and the Department of Health and we have been fortunate to develop partnerships with Sport Active Wexford, Cork Sports Partnership and Dublin City Council to get the programme underway.
For further information or to get involved in 'Get Ireland Swimming' you can contact Grainne on getirelandswimming@swimireland.ie
Club Development Days - Booking now OPEN
As part of our continued club development program we look forward to welcoming clubs to the 2018 Club Development Days in Limerick, Dublin and Claremorris.
The program of workshops has been specifically tailored to the requirements of our clubs, with several break-out options available during the day. Club committee members, CCO’s and coaches are invited to attend, club members with an interest in volunteering with their club are also welcome.
Workshops on offer include:
Clubmark and development planning
Hytek – Introduction to team and meet manager
Succession planning for committees
Financial management and planning
Social media and your club
Go Membership database tutorial
Effective committees and meetings
CCO Forums are being held regionally covering Youth Engagement, Young People’s Strategy 2018 – 2021, Safeguarding Policy update and the new Children First Act 2015
Whilst this may seem like a lot there are some really important items to cover for CCOs and for clubs as there are legislative requirements to be in place by 11th March 2018. Clubs need to make sure at least one of their CCOs attends; other members of the committee are very welcome as this Forum covers items that impact on the whole club.
Dates for the Forums are:
Venue
Day and date
Time
ISHQ, Dublin
Thu 08/02/2018
18:30
Kilmurray Lodge, Limerick
Mon 12/02/2018
18:30
Silversprings Hotel, Cork
Tue 13/02/2018
18:30
Kilkenny
Wed 14/02/2018
18:30
McWilliam Park, Claremorris
Tue 20/02/2018
19:00
Kilmurray Lodge, Limerick
Mon 12/02/2018
18:30
MAC, Belfast
Wed 21/02/2018
18:30
You can sign up to the Forum here (select members and clubs section).
NEW Level 1 and Level 2 Teaching Courses now available!
Swim Ireland Tutor Assessors attended a training day in Irish Sport HQ to be introduced to the new Level 1 Assistant Swimming Teacher and Level 2 Swimming Teacher courses. Following over a year of developments the courses are now ready to go live and can be booked through the Swim Ireland Database.
Learners
If youbook on to one of our Education courses you will receive a Learner Assessment Portfolio and Resource Book to help you on your way! The new Level 1 course can be completed in 4 days and the Level 2 in 8!
Irish Minor Schools The Swim Ireland Irish Minor Schools Championships take place at the NAC, Dublin on Sunday 11th February. Information availableHERE.
2018 McCullagh International
The McCullagh International Meet will be hosted at the Bangor Aurora Leisure Centre from Friday 16th - Sunday 19th February. Entries are now CLOSED! More information is availableHERE.
Swim for a Mile 2018
Swim for a Mile 2018 is now underway with places for our events across the country filling up fast! Make sure to sign up and secure your place at www.swimforamile.combefore it's too late!
2018 Irish Open Championships
Entries are now OPEN for the 2018 Irish Open Swimming Championships. The Championships will take place from April 4th - 8th at the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin. Information availableHERE.
