McSharry included on National Squad
GRANGE’S swimming sensation and World Champion Mona McSharry has been included in Swim Ireland’s National Squad for the 2017/18 season.
The squad comprises the best swimmer in the county, and includes a Performance group with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in mind.
The 17-year-old secondary school student made national and international headlines earlier this year when she became the first ever Gold medal winner for Ireland at the World Junior Championships in August.
Mona won Gold in the 100m Breaststroke and at the same event. the teenage swimming sensation earlier won Bronze in the 50m. The student was given a hero’s welcome on returning to her hometown, with hundreds of people cheering and waving Irish flags as the local legend greeted her many fans. It’s been a remarkable year for the athlete, who is with the Marlins Club in Ballyshannon and also goes to school in the town.
She proved her prowess in the pool at the European Junior Championships back in July, winning two Gold medals and a Bronze in another excellent performance.
Mona was also given a special homecoming after that competition too. Not surprisingly, Mona was among the 45 names listed on the National Squad, announced on Wednesday. Swim Ireland said there was a specific cohorts of athletes identified – a Performance group (with an Olympic 2020 focus) and a Performance Pathway group (with an Olympic 2024 focus). With 12 international medals won over the course of the summer (four at the European Junior Championships, four at the Commonwealth Youth Games, three at the World Junior Cham- pionships and one at the World University Games), Swim Ireland have already made positive strides under their rejuvenated Senior Leadership team of Jon Rudd (National Performance Director), Ben Higson (National Senior Team Head Coach), John Watson (National Performance Services Manager) and Andrew Reid (National Performance Pathway Manager).
World Junior Champion Mona McSharry and World Junior silver medallist Conor Ferguson are joined by Commonwealth Youth Games medallists Jack McMillan and Rachel Bethel as part of the programme. The relocation of Ferguson to the National Centre (Dublin) from the UK for this season underlines the importance that the two National Centres (Dublin and Limerick) will play in Ireland’s plan going forwards, working alongside the leading club programmes within the country. With 9 of the National Squad athletes based full time in the two National Centres, a further 26 of the 45 athletes have all declared that they will form part of the National Centre ‘In Touch’ initiative, working alongside their home programme coaches in one of the National Centres on a regular week-by-week basis,
The National Squad’s first activity, that of a four-day Orientation Camp in Dublin, saw all 45 athletes undergoing a series of tests with the Sport Ireland Institute and other world-leading practitioners drafted into Ireland for the camp.
Cardiac Screening, Respiratory Testing, Anthropometric Testing, Mobility & Robustness Screening, Movement Competency & Strength Capacity Testing and Blood Testing were all covered throughout the four days, with all athletes also receiving Flu Vaccinations and an Anti-Doping workshop alongside various skill & technique based pool sessions and team building exercises.
Jon Rudd, National Performance Director, said: “This is an exciting venture for us and we believe that this will service our athletes better than we have ever done before in terms of coaching, education and racing opportunities, as well as us gaining a great deal of information and knowledge around our key athletes.
“We offered selections to 50 athletes in total and we did not expect our three outside-of Europe athletes to be able to take up their offered places for obvious reasons. To have 45 athletes accept our offers was a great start to the season for us and we look forward to working with both cohorts into the summer meets and beyond,” he added.