Last Sunday the 13 November 2011 ten swimmers from the club competed in the Halloween Qualifying Gala held in Lisburn Leisureplex. To compete in this gala swimmers were required to have qualifying times from previous galas.

Last Sunday swimmers from all over Ulster were doing their best to improve their times and performances. Our swimmers were in the company of Junior Commonwealth champions, Ulster Champions and Irish Champions. Our swimmers were giving their very best and succeeding in almost every case.

All swimmers returned personal best times in some or all of their events. From a coaching perspective this meant that starts, turns, stroke rate, stroke length, timing, body position and general feel for the stroke and technical elements were being delivered above dash and splash. Attitude, commitment, effort and self-reflection were all evident and were rewarding to see in people so young from a coaching perspective. Desire to deliver, hunger for success and smiles on a job well done were on all the swimmers faces and also on the faces of the parents who could attend.

The swimmers and their results (unofficial) are listed below;

• 200 Breaststroke Colin Gorman 3.25.93; Orla Young 3.39.98; Oisin Young 3.16.69;
• 100 Butterfly 1.17.00; Shauna McGahon 1.22.24;
• 200 IM 3.14.11; Ciaran O’Mordha 3.00.55; Nathan Shields 2.57.48; Caolan McGee 2.48.12; Laura Sherlock 3.11.17; Niamh Young 3.04.49; Oisin Young 3.01.76;
• 200 Backstroke Nathan Shields 2.48.45; Caolan McGee 2.41.10; Orla Young 3.13.33; Oisin Young 2.55.14;
• 100 Freestyle Ciaran O’Mordha 1.05.88; Ciaran Hennessy 1.01.68; Shauna McGahon 1.14.65; Orla Young 1.20.23; Niamh Young 1.12.79;
• 100 IM Nathan Shields 1.22.83; Ciaran O’Mordha 1.17.43; Caolan McGee 1.18 61;
• 800 Freestyle 10.29.67; Shauna McGahon 11.45.04.

Well done to all swimmers. Some may feel that they should be returning bigger Personal best times. Well that is natural but keep chipping away and eventually the block will crack and the bigger results will come.

Anecdote from the day Our coach was talking to the coach of the Commonwealth Champion at the gala. That swimmer was complaining of not getting faster times too. All at the gala would have been very happy with that person’s time – so what changes?  Work hard and smart.  Set personal goals.  Praise you efforts.