Swimmer Criteria

 

General Criteria for All Groups

Inclusion in all of Laois Marlins swimming training squads is based on the availability of places, coach agreement, signed registration and parent consent forms, Swim Ireland Affiliation, payment of fees and the agreement of representatives of Laois Marlins Swim Club committee.

Criteria for Trials/Training

Building Fundamentals in Order to join Laois Marlins Swimming Club as a novice member, children are required to meet the following criteria:

1. Swimmer can complete 2 lengths front crawl (basic, regular breathing);

2. Swimmer can complete 2 lengths back crawl, with reasonable body position;

3. Swimmer can complete 1 length basic breast stroke with reasonable body position;

4. Swimmer can complete 1 length basic butterfly kick, with a float;

5. Swimmer can somersault or tumble anywhere in the pool;

6. Swimmer can dive off the pool edge head first in either a sitting, kneeling or standing position;

7. Swimmer has water confidence in all depths of the pool;

8. Swimmer is mature enough to take instruction;

9. Swimmer will affiliate to Swim Ireland.

N.B. Your child will be assessed by the Head Coach who will decide whether or not your child is a competent enough swimmer to join the club.

Depending on availability of places in the squads there may be a waiting time before your child can actually start.

 

Ranking the Swimmer

Laois Marlins Swim Club has used a ranking process for the swimmers based on Freestyle. It has now been recognised that this does not provide enough data about the swimmers’ development. Hence, the club is now ranking the swimmers according to their Individual Medley (IM) times, allowing assessment over Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle. IM times will be refreshed through both competition and club time trials and increasingly, the 200m/400m IM will be used for Senior squad as this provides more information on the swimmers stamina and competitive abilities. 

 

Lane Criteria

Swimmers’ position in the lane will be based on IM times of the swimmer. We will be using the Personal Best time from all four 100m swims to calculate the overall time and lane position for the Senior Squad.

Junior Squad times will be based on four 25m times for each stroke.

 

Work and Expectations

The Criteria for retaining a lane place with LMSC is based on 2 key areas:

-Training and competition application

-Training/Gala attendance

The Head Coach reserves the right to move swimmers outside the guidelines where it is felt it will benefit the club and/or the individual.

 

Head Coach

Padraic Dolan | [email protected]