Ava Rock and Chloe Dawnay with their medals, (Right: Abril Allende with her medal haul)
Templeogue showcase talent in Irish youth and senior summer c’ships
TEMPLEOGUE Swim Club are recognised as one of the top swimming clubs in the country following their recent placements in both the age group national championships from a couple of weeks ago as well as the Summer Championships which took place from the 23 to 27 of July.
While it may be Ellen Walshe getting all the headlines thanks to her impressive performances at the World Aquatic Championships, Templeogue has developed an impressive roster of talent with 26 swimmers representing the club at the recent Irish Youth and Senior Summer Championships held in the National Aquatic Centre.
After coming fifth in the recent age group meets held in Limerick where local club Tallaght also performed well, coach Brian Sweeney spoke on the ethos of the club and the array of homegrown talent.
“Ourselves and Tallaght, the only athletes who race for our teams are kids who are actually based in our club, domestically training day to day and and are representative of the day to day delivery of Templeogue Swimming Club and train exclusively there.
‘I think that’s what we’re most proud about, of all the kids who have been there who managed to qualify as members of the team.”
Sweeny spoke about how the kids are coached, highlighting methods that can be seen to be implemented with star pupil Ellen Walshe who displays Templeogue’s philosophy at the highest level.
“We try to encourage them to be multieventing. That they are not specialising, Sometimes they get tired and want to pull out of one and focus on another, we would try to discourage that so we don’t let them do it.
‘At the end of the day you’re trying to develop a level of resilience and grit and guile. It’s not a contact sport, you just have to be an endurance machine.”
The team won an impressive medal haul at the Summer Championships with the 26 athletes finishing with over 35 medals overall with multiple athletes winning multiple events such as Baltazar Allende in the U15 category who managed an impressive haul of eight medals, Abril Allende who took home six medals, Ava Rock with seven and Chloe Dawnay with five to name a few.
‘These were done across a variety of events and disciplines reinforcing the multi event philosophy that is perpetuated by Templeogue and Sweeney.
The overall squad included the following, Baltazar Allende, Abril Allende, Caitlinn Comerford, Chloe Dawnay, Dylan Ryan, James McGoldrick, Andrew Mullen, Holly McInerney, Luca Sanchez Russell, Eilih Sanchez Russell, Aislinn Healy, , Caoimhe Smyth, Ava Rock, Abigail Minto, Eva Walshe, Will Randles, Espen Brady, Zoe Stynes, Tadhg Walsh, Amelie Ryan, Kila Singleton, Sylvie Marley, Emilan Petrea, Urte Filiponyte, Zoe Browne and Zara Flynn.
