Near miss for Leinster at Interpro

Tue, 7 May 2013 11:51:57 +0100

Leinster moved in force to the NAC on Bank Holiday Monday for the first Swim Ireland Irish Schools Interprovincial Championships. Selected in March, the team gave a fantastic account of themselves, playing ping pong with top and runner up spot over the course of the event. The result came to the narrowest of margins - one point and Ulster taking the spoils on this occasion.

In what seemed to be the best atmosphere at any event I have seen at NAC in a number of years, the tone was certainly set for some fast swimming. Curtis Coulter became the first Irish Junior swimmer to swim sub 50 for 100 Free. Two further Irish Junior Records fell before the afternoon was over.

In the final event, Leinster’s own senior Medley Relay of Mark Keaveney (Back - St Abdrews College), Ben Griffin (Breast - Institute of Education), Jack Cobain (Fly - Belvedere College) and Conor Turner (Free - Institute of Education) broke the Irish Junior Record held by Trojan SC since 1998. (Subject to ratification)

Well done team Leinster on a fantastic days swimming. Thanks to Jack Cobain and Orla Walsh for captaining the team. To coaches Alan turner,Fran Ronan,Sandra cole and Ann Burdis for sharing your expertise and coaching a team to within one point of the win! Team managers Mary Griffin ,Kieran Berry, Maire Walsh, thanks for coordinating this and also to the officials who turned out in force for the meet!

Interpro Update

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:47:22 +0100

Firstly congratulations to the 32 strong TEAM Leinster Schools athletes having been selected to represent your province at the forthcoming inaugural Irish Schools Interprovincial Championships. The final arrangements are being made at present, but in the meantime, please see below some essential details to ensure that we are well organised for Monday’s (6th May) event:

Arrival and warmup

Swimmers should arrive to NAC no later then 10am. TEAM Leinster will assemble upstairs in the gallery area in NAC (up the steps and in the glass doors). All swimmers will be provided with their TEAM tshirt and hat and be briefed by coaches and team management. Please ensure to wear navy tracksuit bottoms on the day. Please ensure that you bring suitable poolside footwear along with lunch and snacks. Lunch will NOT be provided. Warmup will begin once the formalities are completed (approx 11am)

Captains

Congratulations to Orla Walsh and Jack Cobain who have been selected to captain the team.

Team Photo

TEAM Leinster Schools will have a photo taken at NAC on the day, with each swimmer receiving a copy as a souvenir from the event.

Coaching Staff

Your coaching team will be Alan Turner, Fran Ronan and Sandra Cole. Each swimmer will swim at least one swim, with the event selection etc being at the discretion of the coaches. Relay teams will be selected on the day of competition. Team managers for the day are Mary Griffin (LTM), Maire Walsh and Kieran Berry.

The Event

The event will be run in shortcourse format, with each team accruing points based on the first regional swimmer home per province. Overall highest points score will determine this years championship.

Officials

Leinster are providing 4 officials for the event - James Lawless, Alec Colvin, Niamh Geuret, and Margaret O Brien. As Leinster are the host province (although administered by Swim Ireland), it is expected that we provide additional timekeepers etc. Should you be available on the day, kindly email griffinmary4@gmail.com so we can roster appropriately for the event.

We hope that TEAM Leinster will perform well on the day and that the event will run smoothly.

Go Leinster!

Regards

Mary Griffin (Lead Team Manager)
James Lawless (Secretary Leinster Schools Swimming)

Leinster B Schools 2013 Statement and Results

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 20:22:19 +0100

On behalf of Leinster Schools Swimming, let me first thank all athletes, parents, teachers and coaches for traveling from the Leinster region to participate in this years Leinster B schools championships. Your patience was much appreciated and it was refreshing to see the throngs of children leave the event with smiles on their faces given the long day of racing!

The grassroots end of the sport has seen tremendous growth over the last 3 years and this is largely due to the promotion of the sport through dedicated teachers, coaches and parents at local level throughout the province. Should the level of participation continue to grow at present level, the future looks promising for Irish Swimming.

It has been acknowledged that the venue for this years competition was not fit for purpose considering the large number of competitors. The event drew the largest number of athletes for any schools swimming event in a considerable number of years. That said, we received an unprecedented number of entries near to the closing date. Due to these entries, the event schedule was finalised at a late stage with no option to provide an alternate solution.

The Leinster Schools Swimming committee will be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the future operation of this event. It is clear that there are a number of options available and your feedback on the day was much appreciated. Options will obviously include selection of an alternate venue and/or more appropriate session design according to age group, and for the anticipated participation level. Essentially, given the numbers of swimmers attending, we are determined to ensure that we can accommodate as many entries as possible, thus providing the opportunity for all swimmers to become involved in swimming at competitive level.

I must also note that Leinster Schools Swimming is a non profit organisation, receiving absolutely no external funding. Our events must generate sufficient entry numbers to cover the costs of running an event.

The organisation also relies entirely on the assistance of a fantastic group of volunteers, who not only give their time free of charge but who on this occasion worked tirelessly during extremely difficult conditions to deliver the event. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their effort and continued support.

Leinster Schools Swimming will continue to drive the promotion of the sport in a fun, child centered environment at school level within the region. Your constructive input, comments and suggestions over the coming weeks would be much appreciated to ensure that we are delivering on an event that meets the needs of the athletes and spectators involved. These suggestions will be discussed at committee level in the coming weeks.

The results of this weekends event are available here

Yours in Sport

James Lawless
Secretary
Leinster Schools Swimming

Irish Schools Interpro Team Announced

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 20:21:41 +0000

Leinster Schools Swimming is pleased to announce that the Irish Schools Swimming Interprovincial Championships will be held at the NAC on Monday 6th May 2013. A team has been selected to represent Leinster and is available here

Irish Minor Schools Championships Results

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:33:10 +0000

Congratulations to all swimmers who competed in the Irish Minor Schools Championships held in Leisureland Galway on the 9th/10th March. Results are now available on the results page.