Sliabh Beagh senior boys at the qualifying gala in Lisburn

Ulster Autumn Qualifying Meet – Lisburn, October 2019

This swim meet went well for all swimmers. Both Darragh and Adam where very happy with Back crawl and IM with both getting PB’s. Adams 100 fly was strong too, but he needs to work on developing his u water kick for more speed and distance. A PB was also bagged here.
Kyle had difficult 200 Breaststroke and was disappointed post race. With post race analysis it was evident he went out too fast, thus tired early and consequently his stroke and kick lost propulsion. So the lesson here is pace management, be realistic in personal expectations, and build time and progress incrementally.

Kyle had a 400m Free swim in the afternoon session and he was happy with his 400 free result. On Sunday Kyle swam the 100 breaststroke. This is a good event for Kyle, but again he was not having things all his own way and we may have to reassess his skills and work on some more race strategy for the coming season. Although he did medal, Kyle did not PB in this event.

Faolan had a mixed weekend with underperformance in the Backcrawl but improvement in the Free and Breaststroke events. The Backcrawl possibly needs some re-engineering and this should help get the PBs coming again. The 400 Free is always a challenging event as going out too fast hurts too much but holding back, leaves a lot of work to be done at the end. So, the best policy is even splits.

The club need to work on this generally and to develop a better middle distance fitness approach to training, in order to improve our performance in competition.

John, used the Meet as a “where am I2 event. He was going well in the 200 IM, Until he decided to try swallowing a few gallons of water in a turn. That put paid to the 200 IM. His basic speed is not there yet, but we are only working on aerobic capacity at present, in the main.

Hannah gave every race her best but was not satisfied with her times. There is a piece of work to be finessed. This is around aerobic fitness, turn and u water improvement, not putting too much “I must” pressure and manage expectation a bit better. With a little more attention to EVF, kick effectiveness etc., PBs should follow.

Rebekah has avery good skill set, but needs to work more consistently. Skill was enough at a younger age, but with competitors increasing training volume, and getting stronger, the skilled swimmer must respond or they will be left wondering. So, work on aerobic capacity, work on legs and u water pullouts and the times will tumble and the finish position climb. Nevertheless, the production of a PB was a positive for Rebekah.

Katie had a good weekend in the pool. She completed every event and showed signs of returning to her earlier form. This injuries are niggling and impact on her fitness. Also some repair on the backcrawl turn is needed. Again, patience, some modifications and small improvements will yield results.

This was a good Meet overall for a first outing of the season. We have eased back to training this season and the head coach is focusing in this period on aerobic capacity rather than fast swimming. So everyone must be patient, while everyone also must take responsibility for monitoring and modifying their skills, continuously.