SWIMMING UNVEILS NEXT GENERATION OF OLYMPIANS
The next generation of British Olympic swimmers has been
unveiled with 145 young athletes between the ages of 11 and
18 being selected to British Swimming's Age and Youth World
Class Programmes.
Swimmers will receive and guidance and support, funded by
Sport England, to help with training and development to ensure
the potential already shown is realised at Olympic Games of
the future.
Tim Jones, National Age Coach, is looking forward to implementing
a fresh approach to the scheme for the group of 105 athletes
identified at the Age Group Championships in August.
"We've divided the programme into three different levels,"
said Jones. "We wanted to offer a more detailed and progressive
syllabus so decided to split the programme into level one
for girls aged 11 and boys aged 12, level two for girls aged
12 and boys aged 13, and level three for girls aged 13 and
boys aged 14.
"The important thing is to build on the progress the
swimmers make from year to year to try to ensure they stay
in the programme.
"Each level will provide different challenges and will
help to develop the swimmer through progressive nurturing."
Jones set an exacting standard for the swimmers to attain
but is pleased with the make up of the programme.
"We selected 96 youngsters based on objective criteria
outlined for the national championships. Two talent spotters
were also active at the Sheffield event and highlighted additional
swimmers that we liked the look of.
Over the next 10 months the athletes will receive valuable
assistance and guidance in swimming development.
"The programme will enable swimmers to attend stroke
camps, domestic camps and international camps which will improve
skills and broaden their experiences."
"The age programme doesn't have a performance outcome
but it's a vital part of an entire process to deliver Olympic
success. What these swimmers do over the next 12 months is
an extremely important part of the preparations they will
go through as we lead into 2012 and beyond," said Jones.
Bill Pilczuk, National Youth Coach, will head up the older
section of the development system and is looking forward to
working with the 40 athletes aged 14 to 18.
"It's a good selection of swimmers who will push the
system forwards. They will have to reach new levels of skill
that are required so when they make the jump to the senior
set up their skills are better than those who've gone before.
This will ensure the progress of the sport in this country,"
said Pilczuk.
"We designed a formula based on the predicted times
needed to be a finalist at the 2012 Olympics and swimmers
achieving that standard at the National Youth Championships
were automatically selected to the programme.
"Swimmers were also asked to provide their own annual
development plans, in conjunction with their coach, as well
as provide a goal statement on what they aim to achieve from
the Youth Programme before being inducted."
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