The club recently got together to honour the club’s top swimmers in 2011.

Coaches Jon Lambert and Paolo Di Paola made it clear that a combination of factors combined to make these swimmers stand out. It was not just top gala performances but hard work, dedication and acting as role models in and out of the pool which secured the awards in the B and Development Squads. Coach Alan Turner welcomed the fact that his decision was not made easy by the number of top swimmers in the Senior Squad. Its a good omen for the future that we have such strength in depth right across our three squads.

Well done to the following award winners;

Keara Caul, Michael Mc Grath, Matthew Burns, Jean Harling, Cian Cunningham, Sinead Mc Crohan, Faye Harling, Ben Griffin, Sean O’Brien and Conor Turner.

Click here for individual winners by category.

Words: Head Coach Alan Turner  Images: Brian Whelan.

“…Well done to Andy on this brilliant achievement.

It’s even more remarkable when you consider the previous record stood for 23 years. Ironically it was held by an ex-Aer Lingus  swimmer, Ken Turner. Andy set the new time by swimming the race in a negative split (the second 400m was faster than the first 400m). Andy’s time was an impressive 8 mins plus he broke the record during an early-morning event, never an easy thing to do.

Well done to all our swimmers who took part in the last short course meet of the season, roll-on the long course season!…”

Click here for more photos of Aer Lingus Swim Club in action…

Merry Christmas to all our swimmers, coaches and guardians!

A seasonal story by Maurice McCrohan.

It was Christmas week and I was feeling ratty.The shopping centres were packed. There was stress and car park rage and not just at Westwood! In my local shopping centre the same tunes were piped in to all shops.The charity sellers were singing  “Xmas is coming and the geese are getting fat” . GETTING FAT! I snapped. The only ones getting fat are Slade and Wizard on the royalities from their seasonal songs! Bah Humbug!!

That night my sleep was disturbed. There was the sound of rattling chains and a ghostly figure entered the room. You must mend your ways.You will be visited by ghosts over the next three nights who will get you to change!! woooh!! The next night a ghostly figure entered the room and said come with me on a journey to your past. We are at the ALSAA pool canteen. I recognise the swim parents but we all look younger,less gray with more hair. Our children are in the pool.They too are younger, its the trials for the swim club. No more coming here at 10.30am on a Saturday morning  fighting for slots in the car park and eating too many bacon sambos!

Whats this bank duty thing  I ask one parent? I think that’s a rota where parents collect fees and have to lodge them in the airport bank. Oh I see! what are galas like? They are like a day out at the fair. The kids swim and the parents go off and have coffee. Its great fun!! On the second night, I hear the beep beep beep of my alarm.Its 4.20am ,time for Sinead to get up for the next early session! A ghostly figure enters the room.”I am the ghost of Christmas present and this is what your days are going to be like!! Five minutes later I am asleep and its beep beep beep. The alarm goes again and the cycle repeats again and again. Its groundhog day.

The ghost then takes me to a swimming pool.”Sorry excuse me, can I get past?” Its gala day at a club pool. A coffee is spilled over me. I go outside its cold, then come back in and its hot! Its like the Katy Perry song. Then me, the ghost and Sinead are in the car. We arrive at Westwood.”What are we doing here?” shouts Sinead  ”we should be at the NAC!” On the third night its Christmas eve, an immaculately white suited ghost arrives. “I am the ghost of your swimming future, come with me!”. I am the one now dressed in cleanly pressed whites! Maybe I am opening the batting at Lords? I then hear a public announcement “Lanes 1 and 2 are sprint lanes, can coaches get your scratch sheets in by 9 o’ clock”

I am at the NAC on a big gala day.As I walk around I attract attention and then the questions start? What time is the first race?,do I have to check in?.Where are the toilets? Can you do something about the heat?I don’t like Rihanna blaring out when my swimmers are warming up! I realise I am a swim official! Then somebody comes up to me gives me a sheet of paper. “Quick,you’re late for the meeting the turn judges are waiting!”. I enter a room of quizzical looking volunteers,read the crib sheet and freeze! Oh no,I have to give the turn judge technical talk!I don’t have  a clue!!. An embarrassed silence punctuated by nervous coughs ensues! Ok,I better start! ”Welcome everyone, for health and safety reasons please note your nearest exit – one forward one back!”

“Lets go through the strokes. For freestyle,the bewleys coffees and bagels are excellent!” Puzzled looks descend!”I’m joking, you are not needed on freestyle unless you are on for a distance race where you do  a lap count and blow a big whistle near the end!”. Breastroke: look for the heads bobbing up and down a bit in the water and make sure two hands touch the end wall! Backstroke: windmill style actions are allowed.! The swimmer can turn over when they reach the wall and check up at the clock! Butterfly: when they reach the end wall,the swimmers must not cross their legs!!

Everyone got that! any questions?No?,good!,silence and they leave. I turn to the ghost who has reappeared,I think I got away with that! The day goes fine until the last race,the medley relay. Aer Lingus SC Senior girls smash the Irish record and cheers ring out.Until there is a objection on a stroke.The referee turns to the line official,theres a conflab and they all bear down on me! Well,was the stroke right or wrong!I am enveloped in a scrum of white suits and and ……

I wake up its 4.30am on the clock. There is no beep,beep beep.But I thought I heard the sound of  a sleigh on the roof and a ho ho ho its Christmas Day! Its now Christmas day lunchtime and we’ve opened our presents. The smell of the turkey cooking in the oven wafts around the kitchen. A glass of freshly poured mulled wine is on the counter and on RTE1 Augustus Gloop is about to fall into Willy Wonkas chocolate river!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tis Christmas,have a great one!

Barry Murphy with our B Group Squad

The club was delighted to welcome a special guest to the annual B Group gala.

Aer Lingus swimmer, Olympian and multiple national record holder Barry Murphy was guest of honor at the event. Barry was fantastic with our younger swimmers, offering plenty of tips and inspiration to the squad. Fresh from his tremendous success at the Irish Short Course Nationals Barry was also on hand to present awards to our future stars.

No doubt everybody at Aer Lingus SC will be following Barry’s progress with keen interest at London 2012. We’re looking forward to welcoming Barry  back to the club very soon.

Thanks Barry!

Barry Murphy, Sycerika Mc Mahon & Andy Meegan with some of the Aer Lingus squad

Words: Coach Alan Turner

The Irish Short Course Nationals turned out to be a fantastic meet for the club. An added bonus was seeing Barry Murphy in full flight and mixing with all the swimmers at the weekend. Despite some of our guys being in awe of him, he gave the squad a great boost and also gave us a Nationals meet to remember.

I was very impressed with Ben Griffin over the weekend. He swam big personal bests in all his events. Likewise, Conor Turner proved his pedigree by breaking two Irish junior records. He had some great duals with teammate Andy Meegan. Andy’s swim with Brendan Gibbons from Athlone got the crowd on their feet, the atmosphere was electric.

Sean O’Brien was brilliant as usual. His competitive spirit came to the fore and it was great to see him collect medals in the Nationals. Newcomer Niamh Morgan impressed making 3 finals out of 4 and recorded big personal bests along the way. Well done also to Ali, Sarah, Rachel, Wendy and Ash for making finals.

Our 2 youngest members arrived at the meet on Sunday. Faye Harling made 2 finals placing 4th in both 400m IM and 200m breaststroke. She wasn’t far away from a podium finish. Benjamin Doyle won the B final placing him 9th overall in the 400m IM. He also finished 7th in the 100m backstroke.

Well done to our men’s relay team winning both medley and freestyle gold. Our women were unlucky not to be placed in the top 3, I have no doubts that the medals will roll in for them next year.

Finally, well done to Barry Murphy for winning best overall performance of the meet Role on the Long Course season and a Happy Christmas to everyone!

Photos from the Irish SC Nationals…

It was smiles all round for Aer Lingus Swim Club at the Leinster Winter Championships last weekend. The team captured best overall team award with a staggering 1,671.50 points. That was nearly 1,000 points ahead of it’s nearest rivals.

There’s an old cliché which claims there are “… lies, damn lies and statistics…”. However nothing could disguise the fact that Aer Lingus swim club dominated this event from the get go. When we first glanced at the overall team result we blinked, certain it was a typo. It’s hard to believe we clocked up some many points against stiff competition and collected a blizzard of medals. This was despite missing some top swimmers who were busy  competing in overseas competitions.

There were shades of Groundhog Day when time and time again, an Aer Lingus swimmer chased another Aer Lingus swimmer for the top podium positions. Not only did the club produce stellar performances at individual level but our relay teams shone brightly too. Most heartwarming of all on a chilly December day was the pure strength and depth of our team, we have no weak links…

Coach Alan Turner shared some of his weekend highlights;

Congratulations to all our swimmers for producing some fantastic performances at the weekend. All of our squad performed brilliantly during the competition. It shows that we have a very talented bunch within the club.

It was great to see Faye Harling finally coming out of her shell and surprising a lot of people from the other clubs but not our coaching staff. Sean O’Brien was a very busy man winning all his finals, except the fly where he generously collected “only” silver. The skins produced a fantastic head-to-head battle with Sean just pipping a spirited Ben for 1st prize.Their junior teammate Benjamin also won silver in the skins, he’s proving to be a tough little competitor. No doubt his time will come in this event.

Well done to all of the relay teams, both Youth and Senior for winning nine out of their twelve races. They also finished second in the other three. Keep up the good work and let’s focus on the Short Course Nationals this weekend in Lisburn!

Aer Lingus Swim Club Team Photos

Overall Team Result

We’re delighted to reprint a letter from Coach Paolo Di Paola published in the December issue of Swimming Times, the official magazine of British Swimming.

I have read with interest the article on Age Group and Youth Champs -’Revamp for Age and Youth Champs’ – in the last issue of Swimming Times and would like to comment on the age of day rule. As a coach I feel that this rule is as unfair as any other option because we will always have swimmers who are older than others in the same age group no matter what rule we decide to use and implement. The problem is that age on the day is in my opinion the messiest option available and creates all sorts of collateral issues. For instance, has anybody ever thought that such a rule might allow some swimmers to swim in the same age for two years in a row in the same major competition?

Let’s give an example. This year the British Age Group Champs will start on July 22nd which means that a swimmer who turned 13 on the 20th will race in that age group for the 2011 edition. Next year the same competition might be scheduled a bit earlier in the month and maybe finish let’s say on the 19th – dates for competitions do change depending on the season – therefore that same swimmer would race again in the 13yo age group for a second time in 2012. I don’t think that would be fair at all on the other competitors as well as not doing any favour to the swimmer in question who might see him/her self thrown straight into a 15 yo age group the following year should the dates change again or should be eligible for youth champs.

I live and coach in Ireland and we have the same rule which is creating all sorts of problems. I would like to see this rectified in UK and Ireland – in line with what other countries do – to create a fairer environment for our participants. I am originally from Italy and also a qualified Italian coach and over there the age is determined by the year you were born (age on 31st December).

Here in Ireland too many swimmers are disappointed every year because they cannot part take in either Division 2 or Division 1 National Champs due to the age on the day rule if their age changes in between the two competitions – they qualify for D1 so they are not allowed to swim D2, which takes place before D1, but then their age changes and they are no longer allowed to swim D1 because they don’t have qualifying times for the older age group. This is not only unfair but silly. I hope this could contribute to the debate and help solve the problem.

Click here for more photos of the team in action at the ALSAA Bowl!

Words: Coach Alan Turner.

Well done to everybody who took part in their first swim meet of the year.

It was a very positive weekend with so many swimmers recording massive PBs. As a club we are used to a consistently high level of performance, something I’m sure we’ll maintain throughout the year.

The outstanding performance of the weekend came from Conor Turner in capturing a new Irish Junior record in the 800m Free. The swim was even more remarkable considering he swam it in a negative split (faster second half). Andy Meegan collected a hat-trick of first place finishes, including a world class 1500m swim. Special mentions also to Rachel Nevin’s big PB in the 400m Free and Sinead McCrohan’s first 1500m at 12 years of age!

Overall, I could put the whole squad down on the list of outstanding performances. Special thanks to Paolo, Jonny, Annie and all our B Group coaches for their hard work in developing this talented group of swimmers.

Our Favourite Number

Words: Maurice McCrohan

It doesn’t seem like there has been much of  a break since the July National and International Galas!

I was going to say we are back with our swimmers now that summer is over. But as our summer weather was actually on the second week of April that would not be right.  It could be worse, we could be involved in outdoor sports!!

And so it begins! the 2011/12 season. Those who luckily escaped to the sun have returned to milk bottle white. The swimmers seem to be energised and the Age Group have all taken a stretch . Those extra inches and power will help PBs , but we assume their competitors are growing too!  I don’t know the precise numbers, but having been around the bank last week there must be over 25 age groupers and 25 seniors. With the minnows under the surface, thats 100 plus swimmers!

It’s some feat of organisation going on behind the scenes. With an AGM coming up the club are always on the lookout for volunteers to help out (hint, hint). More fairy godmothers are needed to take a theme from my last article! In Westwood, the mad scramble for the showers goes on at the end of the session. Twenty swimmers chasing eight showers I am reliably informed!The Westwood car parking angst goes on! At ALSAA, parking is obviously ok for the early morning. But Saturdays at about 10.30am a perfect storm hits as masters, seniors,  age groupers, minnows and lessons all come together! Now that’s a day to car pool (no pun intended)!

A couple of the coaches are doing swim courses, an element of which is looking the swimmer’s nutrition. Sinead, Megan , Eilbhe, Ali and Andy have been diligently documenting their food intake for the last week. Having to write it down concentrates the mind! Generally when the swimmers are in training the energy drinks and bars are on every shopping list. The right nutrition is a minefield of truths, urban myths and a dash of old wives tale.

For every snake oil salesman palming off  the next thing in power drinks , someone else will say what’s wrong with good old fashioned H2O? Something tells me our swimmers won’t settle just for water,  they ingest enough of the stuff already. One of my own running mates is dismissive the power of recovery drinks! Nesquik does it for him with all the protein you need in a “recovery drink”.

A few weeks of training before galas kick in, both club and schools! Same swimmers, different hats! Same parents on the bank jumping into cars early doors with the same coaches giving their expertise! It’s all starting to bubble up nicely.

Now we just need to find some different coffee outlets to give us parents an early morning java boost!