Sarah Kelly & Niamh Kilgallen Qualified for the Irish Team

Two athletes coached by Performance Coach Sebastien Locteau will represent Ireland at the CELTIC TRI-NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP Friday 10th Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May 2013.

The two Girls will swim part of the Irish senior Team. Sarah Kelly from Comans Swimming Club will swim the 200Fly and Niamh Kilgallen from Claremorris swimming club will swim the 200m Breaststroke.

Two Swimmers on the Rise

Sarah Kelly brought a silver medal last year for Ireland and after her 8th place at the European Junior Long Course Championship and 12th at The European Senior short course Championship is expected to perform at the meet. Swimming between 52 to 58 000m a week her coach has been pushing her to step up this year. Her coach said “She has the perfect parent as an athlete. Collette her mother brings her everywhere, supports her without being pushy and has a major role in her preparation. The key of her success is trust, honesty and great communication”.

Niamh Kilgallen who will represent Ireland for the first time has been evolving from regional level to top National swimmer in the last few months. Her coach is very impressed by her results and the way she adapted herself to the new regime. Her coach commented “While she doesn’t realize she can be world class level. Her dad has a massive input in her conditioning training, so it’s not about me as a coach but about team work between the club committee, coaches and parents”

The key of her success is trust, honesty and great communication

Funding and Support for Athletes

There is little funding available for talented athletes. At that level following the coach guidelines is not enough. An example would be their coach can not afford to see them competing at international level. You would imagine the Irish sports council would support their coach to travel with them. Which international athletes do not need their coach at major events to perform at their best? Give them feedback or watch the competition and support their athletes. The coach is usually there and has a very important role in the athletes’ preparation.

The Role of Parents and Clubs

Parents have a major role to play in the future of young athletes, they deal with the logistic and financial aspect of it. It is time consuming and requires a lot of early mornings and late training sessions with about 16 to 18h in the water without conditioning, stretching and weight training, school homework. It’s a very tough life within a sport which is not rewarded enough like football or GAA in Ireland.

Club support is another major factor. The committees from Claremorris and Comans Swimming clubs are composed of volunteers dealing with a lot of work and are rarely acknowledged.

Sports is made of amazing people, let’s keep it that way and let’s bring Ireland to the next level