Nelson Lindsay, our Commonwealth Games Coach, has recently made a presentation to the Swim Ulster Board on his plans for the Commonwealth Games panel. Click on Read More to see Nelson's plans.

Commonwealth Games Selection 2012  

[1] It must be remembered that selection is the prerogative of the N.Ireland Commonwealth Games Council. They specify numbers and the selection date. Swim Ulster’s role is to supply a ranked list of swimmers for them to choose from.This list will be ranked in accordance with % inside the published consideration times. 

[2] Clubs must submit claim forms to the swim office for any swimmers they wish to be considered, by 27^th. July 2010. 

[3] The first meet at which swimmers may record a consideration time is the 2010 Irish Long Course Championships, 30^th. April to 2^nd. May. 

[4] The last meet at which a time may be recorded is the 2010 Irish Youth & Senior Championships, 22^nd.-25^th. July 

[5] In addition swimmers may nominate up to two other meets at which they can record a time. Any such meet must be of a good standard [ Irish Nationals or better] and comprise heats and finals. It should be noted that Swim Ireland is taking a Senior team to the Mare Nostrum series, a Youth Team to the Scottish Nationals and of course a team to the European Junior Championships within the consideration window, plus of course an Ulster team to the A.S.A. Open. These meets are all obviously of suitable standard.  If another meet is specified and I have any doubts about it’s suitability I will refer it to the Ulster HP Committee for final arbitration.A swimmer wishing to record a time in a meet as described in this section, must nominate it to either to me or the swim office [ for my attention] before the end of the month prior to the month the meet takes place in - e.g. a meet in May must be nominated by 30^th. April.

 N.Ireland 2010 Commonwealth Games Swim TeamPreparation and Selection 

Proposals for the consideration and comments of the Ulster High Performance Committee and then the approval of the Ulster Board.  

[1]  Preparation of a consideration Squad. [2] Team Selection [3] Team Preparation after selection.  

Consideration Squad Preparation Following the major summer meets, a squad of 10 swimmers have been selected.

Two major features of this squad are; About half will probably be swimmers training in elite set ups overseas. All will probably be qualified for the Irish High Performance Squads Programme. In practical terms the swimmers in America are too remote to participate in the bulk of any programme. If, as this season, they are largely left to their own devices after the end of the collegiate season, Peter Banks has said that if they come home, he will organise training for them in the NAC or Limerick. The Irish High Performance Programme provides a series of camps and meets without too many gaps. We must therefore look at how we can enhance it rather than duplicate it.

I am suggesting: Offering bio mechanical analysis to the squad, there is no reason why GB based swimmers could not avail of this, if their coaches thought it helpful. My preference would be to use Connor Osborough if he were available, to provide continuity with the work done with Irish teams. A training camp at the end of June. It would be important that enough pool space was hired to cope with the different programmes that would be needed at this time of year. I would also like to be able to bring a physiotherapist. I would intend  to take a team to the British Open, 8^th. to 10^th July. I had hoped to take the squad to India in early 2010 for a meet that had been supposed to take place in the ‘Games’ Pool. Unfortunately I have neither been able to find any reference to this meet, nor get reliable information on the stage of completion of the pool. 

Finally I would consult with the coaches of the Ulster based swimmers to see if they had individual requirements that could be helped. 

 Background to Selection The key factors influencing my thoughts on selection were: 

[1] The Cut-off Date.I had hoped we could have had the same date for selection as the other home nations, 22^nd. August 2010, i.e. 2 months before the Games. This would have allowed us to use the A.S.A. senior Nationals on 18^th. to 21^st. August as our final selection trials like the other home nations. It would also have allowed swimmers to count times from the European Championships from 4^th. to 15^th. August. The N.Ireland Commonwealth Games Council have however insisted on having our ranked list before the end of July.This is however an improvement over earlier directions which had specified early July. We can now use the Irish Youth and Open Meet, 22^nd. to 25^th. July. This should be a good meet as Peter Banks is planning to ask the overseas swimmers to come home for it and then fly out after it to a holding camp prior to Europeans.  

[2]Start of Consideration I believe that this should not be too early in the season , to encourage swimmers to prepare properly and ensure they have a good season’s work done before the Games.In addition it will remove a complicating factor if we wait until after the new regulations on suits takes place.

 [3] Performing Under Pressure It is important that the swimmers we take can perform on the day. I therefore favour nominated selection meets where swimmers must step up and perform, rather than them just doing meets of any standard and picking out their best time. 

[4] Fairness We have to recognize that many of our best swimmers swim in overseas programmes over which we have no control. They may have to select meets to suit their circumstances, while at the same time they should not be given advantages over home based swimmers.