Well done everyone in Portlaoise particularly those swimming their first gala. It's probably the toughest one you'll ever do.

Here are the results and there's a coaches report from Stephan below too. It was Stephan's first gala as a parent and a coach!

Eoin

Portlaoise swimming Gala

Coaches report

A fun gala with the focus on having fun and learning, for me as coach this was my first gala coaching for the whole day. A great day of learning for me personally. Thank you to Liam, Kathy & Elaine for all the pre gala advice.

I’d like to say a big thank you to our team managers Edel,Diarmuid,Aoife & Declan for helping to keep our team swimmers organised. ( and also, all the parents who helped )

I love a quote. We don’t rise to our peak we fall to our averages. What this means is - what we do consistently in training is what we will produce in and on race day. ( how many tumbles do we do in each training session )

We had some exceptional personal best ( pb’s) swims, super quick swims, we had a few juniors who used diving blocks for the first time during their warm ups and we had a big number experiencing their first and second galas of their young swimming careers.

Some take away points for us coaches. ( and athletes ;) ) ( younger kids ideas )

1. Set warm ups - know how to warm up, why we warm up, what to swim and to always practice turns
2. Always practice your tumble turns at speed - the hole length doesn’t have to be fast but know your bearings
3. Dives - don’t just dive in and go slow - on dive start practice - do 10m fast
4. Practice all turns for all events you are swimming
5. Talk to the coaches

Heart and soul of the club is our relay teams and the juniors in 7-11 and the juniors 12 -14 we had the best team spirit cheering our team mates on. It was exceptional to witness and deafening to experience. We finish on a high with our relay team of Lauren, Paul, Gregory & Stephen ending the gala with a victory.

Once again, a big thank you to all & to all the swimmers, well done on your times. Let’s continue to push each other forward in training and having fun.

Onwards and upwards

Stephan Teeling Lynch

Ps we don’t compare ourselves to anyone else - we compare our own progressions

1. Have I been training ( or have I been sick)
2. How many seconds did I take off my time ? ( Did I progress ? ) If yes : give yourself a smile and be POSITIVE 📷
3. If I didn’t get a new pb ask yourself the basics - have I been at training sessions ? Did I have a good swim ? ( For example - did my goggles come off - outside your control!! Was I very nervous ? How can I help calm my nerves before races ( chat to parents & coaches ) have I been practicing the basics ( as outlined above in learning points ) Did I talk to coaches after the swims for feedback
4. Together as a team we will get better and better