Swim Ireland News

Swim Ireland News
Issue - April 2013
Welcome….
Welcome to the April Issue of the Swim Ireland Newsletter. We’ve had lots happening this
month including the launch of our Strategic Plan, Awards Night, Irish Senior Water Polo Cup and
National Championships to name a few. We were delighted at our AGM on the 13th April to
welcome new Swim Ireland President, Mary Phelan of Munster on board and to welcome new
committee and board members for the 2013/14 season. We would like to thank Tony Farrell our
2012/13 President and retiring board and committee members for their valued service over the
last few months and years. As always, If you have any news for our E-Zine please send it to
pr@swimireland.ie. The next Newsletter will issue in May 2013.
Swim Ireland Launch Strategic Plan 2013-2016
We launched the Swim Ireland Strategic Plan 2013-2016 at our AGM on the 13th April. The document is now available to download here . Below you will see our vision, core value and where we
want to be by 2016.
Our Vision
To inspire and empower people in Ireland of all ages and abilities to
participate in our sport and to embrace a healthy lifestyle
Our Core Value
To regulate our sport and operate to the highest standards of care to
ensure we provide a safe and secure environment for all of our participants and those who support and work with them.
Where do we want to be in 2016?

Recognised by the Irish Sports Council as one of the top 3 governing bodies of sport in
Ireland

Achieving the highest levels of World/Olympic swimming

Supporting our clubs and regions and making them feel more connected and better supported by the organisation than ever before.

An organisation recognised as providing support and guidance and promoting lifelong
participation in the sport of swimming

The leading organisation in the provision of national standard qualifications and support
programmes for teachers and coaches.
You can read about all of our aims and initiatives of how we will get there by downloading the
full document here
Swim Ireland News
Issue - April 2013
We’ve Moved!
The Swim Ireland Offices have now moved to the new
Irish Sport Headquarters on the National Sports Campus.
We apologise for any inconvenience on our phone lines
whilst the move was taking place. All phone lines are
now up and running and remain them same as they
were before.
Our new address is: Swim Ireland, Irish Sports Hq, National Sports Campus, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15
St. Vincent’s and Half Moon 2013 Irish Cup Winners
The 2013 Water Polo Irish Senior Cup took place in Limerick over the weekend of 19th/20th
April in UL Arena, Limerick. An international plus Irish line up of referees were present to
officiate as St. Vincent’s women and the men’s squad of Half Moon celebrated the Cup win
in convincing fashion on Saturday. St Vincent’s defeated Cathal Brugha 5-9 in the final while
Half Moon edged Guinness 14-7. The referees in action were Slovenian Boris Margeta,
Mladan Rak from Croatia, Israeli Matan Schwarts and Rik Rykeart from Belgium together
with Stephen O’Brien, Conor Sheridan and Denver Kirk
from Ireland.
Women
Semi-Finals
Glenalbyn 5 vs 8 Cathal Brugha
St Vincents 16 vs 5 Donegall Diamonds
Final
Cathal Brugha 5 vs 9 St Vincent’s
Men
Semi-Finals
Half Moon 8 vs 5 North Dublin
Cathal Brugha 10 vs 11 Guinness (after extra time)
Final
Half Moon 14 vs 7 Guinness
Swim Ireland News
Issue - April 2013
Swim Ireland Awards Night 2013
Swim Ireland hosted our Annual Awards night at the
Galway Bay Hotel on the 13th April. A total of 16
Awards which celebrate and honour the fantastic
work and outstanding accomplishments of Swim Ireland’s athletes, coaches and volunteers were handed
out on the night including High Performance Athlete
of the Year (Sycerika McMahon) Disability Swimmer
of the Year (Bethany Firth), Club of the Year (Longford
SC) and National Volunteer of the Year (Michael Angus Bangor).
2012 Olympians & Paralympians at the Awards Night
In honouring the achievements of 2012, Olympians and Paralympians
and coaches were invited to celebrate their performances at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Ten swimmers and six coaches were awarded with commemorative medals. Fourteen Junior International Athletes were also honoured on the night, they represented Ireland at
European Junior Championships in Swimming, Open Water and Diving
in 2012.
Dave Malone receives the Hall of
Fame Award from his former coach
Kevin Williamson
The final part of the evening saw an induction into the Swim Ireland
Hall of Fame. The 2013 inductee was Paralympic Gold Medallist Mr
Dave Malone. Dave represented Ireland at four Paralympic Games and
is now the Head of Paralympic Swimming in Ireland as well as coaching
at the NAC Swimming Club. It is only fitting that after the success of
the swimmers at the Games in 2012 and given his contribution to the
sport over the years that Dave was inducted into the Swim Ireland Hall
of Fame in 2013. A full album of photos are available on the Swim Ireland Facebook
2012/2013 Swim Ireland Award Winners
Ulster Region Club of the Year
Cookstown ASC
Leinster Region Club of the Year
AsgardSC
Munster Region Club of the Year
Ennis SC
Connacht Region Club of the Year
Longford SC
Swim Ireland Outstanding Achievement Award
Stephen Redmond
Masters Outstanding Achievement Award
Claire O’Dwyer (Dublin SC)
Water Polo Outstanding Achievement Award
Brian O’Dwyer (Guinness SC)
Open Water Swimmer of the Year
Chris Bryan (Ennis SC & UL HPC)
Volunteer of the Year (Club/Regional)
Clare McGrath (Ennis SC)
Club Coach of the Year
Ronan McNevin (Longford SC)
Club Athlete of the Year
Ciara McNevin (Longford SC)
Volunteer of the Year (National)
Michael Angus (Bangor ASC)
High Performance Coach of the Year
Bobby Madine (Leander ASC)
Disability Swimmer of the Year
Bethany Firth (Ards ASC)
High Performance Swimmer of the Year
Sycerika McMahon (Leander ASC)
Club of the Year
Longford SC
Hall of Fame Inductee 2013
Dave Malone
Swim Ireland News
Issue - April 2013
Carlton Irish LC National Championships Round Up
The Carlton Irish Long Course National Swimming Championships were hosted for the 10th
year last weekend at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.
Swimmers impressed over four days of competition with lots of Irish Junior and Senior Records
falling, and numerous qualifications for national squad trips during the Summer.
Andrew Meegan (Aer Lingus) set new standards in the 1,500m (15:38.14) and 800m (8:10.65),
Brendan Hyland (Tallaght & HPC NAC) broke the 400m IM (4:27.45) and 100m Butterfly (54.50)
Senior Records and the 200IM (2:05.77) Junior Record.
Fiona Doyle (1:08.23) set a new standard in the women’s 100m
Breaststroke final whist also qualifying for the World Championships in July in a time faster than the 2012 Olympic A standard.
UCD’s Shauna O’Brien (27.77) knocked an 8 year old 50m Butterfly
Record from the books whilst Curtis Coulter of Ards set a new junior standard in the 50m Freestyle of 23.26.
Pic: Fiona Doyle Portmarnock SC
There were also a number of Relay Records for Ards (Junior 4x100m FTR 3:37.90 & 4x100m
MTR 3:56.15), UCD (Senior 4x100m Medley 4:23.48) and Bangor (Junior 4x100m MTR
4:28.74).
Congratulations to the following swimmers who met qualification standards to date for various International competitions this Summer:
European Junior Championships, 10th – 14th July 2013, Poznan, Poland
Sarah Kelly Comans SC, Clodagh Flood Tallaght SC/NAC HPC, Brendan Gibbons Athlone SC,
Mary Kate McDowell Bangor SC, Derbhail McNamara Westport SC, Brian O’Sullivan NAC SC,
David O’Sullivan Galway SC, Gemma Kane Bangor ASC
World University Games, 10th – 17th July 2013, Kazan, Russia
Chris Bryan Ennis SC, Fiona Doyle Portmarnock SC, Andrew Meegan Aer Lingus SC
European Youth Olympic Festival, 14th - 19th July 2013, Utrecht, Netherlands
Niamh Kilgallon Claremorris SC, Rachel Bethel Lisburn City ASC, James Brown Ards AC, Morgan
Berryman City of Belfast, Joseph Mooney Limerick SC, Benjamin Doyle Aer Lingus, Emma Reid
Bangor SC.
World Swimming Championships, 28th July – 4th August 2013, Barcelona, Spain
Sycerika McMahon Leander ASC, Chris Bryan Ennis SC, Fiona Doyle Portmarnock SC
US Open, 30th July – 3rd August 2013, Irvine, California
Brendan Gibbons Athlone SC, Bethany Carson Lisburn City SC, Andrew Meegan Aer Lingus SC,
Barry Murphy Aer Lingus SC, Brendan Hyland Tallaght SC, David Thomspon Invictus ASC, Seamus Stacey NUIM Devils, Sean Leahy Dolphin SC, Curtis Coulter Ards ASC, David O’Sullivan Galway, Shauna O’Brien UCD, Michael Dawson Ards, Nicholas Quinn Castlebar, Dan Sweeney Sundays Well
IPC World Championships, 11-17th August 2013, Montreal, Canada
James Scully NUIM Devils, Ellen Keane Aer Lingus SC, Bethany Firth Ards ASC, Darragh McDonald Asgard SC, Jonathan McGrath Limerick SC, Laurence McGivern Invictus ASC
Swim Ireland News
Issue - April 2013
Swim Coaches Clinic a Huge Success
“Coaches are the key to everything we achieve in the swimming pool” that was the message coming from the Swim
Ireland National Performance Director – Peter Banks, the
Director of Education – Charlotte Parker and John Leonard
(Executive Director of the World Swimming Coaches Association (WSCA) and the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA) - the very successful coaching clinic delivered in
Dublin in early April
Swim Ireland played host to the American Swimming Coaches Association and over 100
coaches from Europe and Ireland attended the Coaches Clinic daily. This clinic the first
ever of its kind saw leading US and Irish Coaches deliver inspiring presentations to Irish
and European Coaches at the event on Friday 5th April to Sunday 7th April in Dublin. The
clinic was kindly sponsored by Finis and Assistant Director for the Company Tim Ells was
also in attendance at the event and spoke to support and congratulate every coach for
attending and being a part of an exciting and innovative weekend where World class
speakers were accessible to coaches here in Ireland….. read on for more information
Level 3 Coach Course—Applications Now Open!
The education team are delighted to announce the opening
of applications for the Swim Ireland Level Three Senior
Swimming Coach programme. The launch occurred at the
ASCA and SI clinic in early April. All information and forms
can be downloaded from the SI website. The closing date is
Friday 21st June 2013. If there are any queries with regards
to this programme please contact Charlotte Parker at
education@swimireland.ie or 0868560130.
Leander ASC Celebrates 50 Years
Leander Amateur Swimming Club
50th Anniversary Dinner
Four Winds Restaurant
on 22nd June
Tickets £40 available from: K Madine
Email: kmadine@hotmail.com
Swim Ireland News
Issue - April 2013
Masters Swimming News (from 19 to 90+)
April was a busy one again for Masters Swimmers who travelled to Tralee and Monaghan for the
Kingdom Masters and inaugural Sliabh Beagh Distance Gala respectively.
All reports from Kingdom (pictured) were of a well attended, organised and atmospheric meet.
The Easter weekend saw the first ever masters competition
dedicated to 800s and 1500s freestyle, hosted by Sliabh
Beagh ASC. What followed was a ‘maiden voyage into the
great unknown’ for some. The fastest over 800 were
Dymphna Morris (50-54) and Richard Yamin Ali (45-49).
Over 1500 Natalie McLean (20-24) and Patrick McKenna
(25-29) were first home. A full report on the gala is available here.
In other news the European Masters Rankings were published by LEN. In addition to the 10
swimmers world ranked by FINA, a further 9 Irish swimmers recorded ‘top ten’ European times
for 2012. (Cyril Hardy, Elizabeth Watts, Ger Philpott, John McCarthy, Mary Spears, Nuala Curley,
Rob Genest, Suzanne Harkins and Tony O’Brien).
Mention must go to Claire O’Dwyer from Dublin SC who was presented with the 2013 Swim Ireland Masters Achievement Award.
Claire (currently in the 70-74 category) has been a stalwart of Irish
Masters swimming from its inception. In 1991 she competed in the
50-54yrs age group in the European Masters in Coventry, winning
the 50Free, 100Free and 50Fly and setting European records in the
50Free and 50Fly.
Since then, Claire has competed across the globe: from the USA to
New Zealand, medalling frequently in World and European Championships in both the Pool and Open Water events. In particular she
won Gold in Montreal and Sheffield. Claire remains the only Irish
swimmer, young or old, to have set a FINA swimming world record. She still holds Irish records in the 55-59, 60-65, 65-69 and 70Picture: Claire O’Dwyer receives her award
74 age groups.
from Swim Ireland President Mary Phelan
Claire is also a member of the Swim Ireland Masters Development Squad, and in recent weeks
Swim Ireland staff member Paolo Di Paola has been appointed coach and co-ordinator to the
group. More information will be available next month on the membership and plan for the year
ahead.
The next upcoming event in the masters calendar is the Aer Lingus Masters Gala on May 12th
Full details are available online www.irishmastersswimming.ie