SWIMMING Top US Swim Coach Launches National Aquatic High Performance Centre, Dublin

Swim Ireland, with the help of special guest Coach Gregg Troy, head coach of the University of Florida Swim Team officially launched its National Aquatic High Performance Centre (NAC-HPC), Dublin on Friday 9th April at a lunch reception in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, attended by Mr. Donagh Morgan Assistant Secretary General for the Department of Tourism, Culture & Sport, representatives from the Irish Sports Council, the National Aquatics Centre, UCD, the Swim Ireland President, coaches, staff and media.

The National Aquatic High Performance Centre (in operation since September 2009) is led by full time swimming coach Paul Donovan, in conjunction with Peter Banks, National Performance Director. A total of twenty swimmers currently avail of the centre, across a variety of training programmes. Swimmers are offered a range of sports science services such as mental training, strength & conditioning, video analysis and physiology. Part-time and full-time training schedules can be availed of.

In 2006, Swim Ireland in conjunction with the Irish Sports Council and the University of Limerick collaborated to establish Ireland's first High Performance Centre for swimming. Four years later, with its second High Performance Centre for swimming on stream, Peter Banks hopes that these performance centres will raise the level of training opportunities for Irish swimmers at home, and will also provide the structure and programmes to allow these swimmers who are based in Ireland to achieve success at European, World, and Olympic level.

"The launch of our new centre at the NAC is another big step in moving towards creating a high performance culture in Irish swimming. Having the world-class facility that is the NAC, together with the support from the Irish Sports Council is really going to contribute to the quality of training that we can provide to our top swimmers at home," said Peter Banks.

Issued on behalf of Swim Ireland, whose High Performance Programme is supported and funded by the Irish Sports Council.