Outstanding performances during the first half of 2022, have resulted in Kirsty Neill, Ella Greatbatch, Molly Greatbatch and Elliot Hall being selected onto the 2022/23 Swim England Talent Pathway.
The Swim England Talent team have developed a pathway to help identify, support and enhance the development of athletes for the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games of the future. The first step of the Swim England Talent Pathway is the County Development Programme (CPD), where County Talent teams work with 11 year olds demonstrating early talent in all strokes through their performance in the 200m Individual Medley (200m IM) in either long course (50m, priority) or short course (25m) events.
Fantastic long course 200m IM performances in the first half of 2022 ensured twelve year olds Molly Greatbatch and Elliot Hall were selected to attend step two of the pathway, the Regional Development Programme (RPD). Throughout the 2022/23 season they will join the top swimmers in the East Region (24 male and 24 female) and attend a series of workshops focused on improving their skills in and out of the water.
Step three, the Swim England National Age Group Development Programme (NAGDP), is aimed at athletes aged 13-14 years and is the first part of the pathway delivered by the England Talent Team. By this age, up to 288 swimmers are selected across England (48 swimmers from each of six zones) based on their rankings and FINA points for an event and superb long course breaststroke performances secured 14 year old Ella Greatbatch her place for a second year. Each world record for an event (e.g. Female Long Course 100m Breaststroke) is given FINA points of 1000 and every swimmer’s time is converted into a fraction of that time. Ella needed at least one time with more than 525 FINA points to be considered for selection, and her current best time is for 200m Breaststroke converts into 634 FINA points. She is currently ranked 7th in Britain for her age group in the long course 200m Breaststroke, 8th in 100m Breaststroke and 19th in 50m Breaststroke. As well as continuing to improve abilities across all strokes, the NAGDP additionally focuses on tactical awareness, race process goals, self-awareness and self-reflection.
Kirsty Neill continues to deliver excellent performances and move through the stages of the pathway and for 2022/23 she moves into step four, the Swim England National Youth Development Programme (NYDP). The NYDP is for the top 120 ranked 15-16 year olds in England meeting the required FINA points (>600 female and >550 male 15 year old). Like Ella, 15 year old Kirsty also dominates in breaststroke and is currently 2nd in Britain in the long course 200m Breaststroke, 8th in 100m Breaststroke and 13th in 50m Breaststroke. The NYDP builds on all aspects of the previous parts of the pathway, in particular technical and tactical racing skills and the understanding of how training processes in the pool and on land underpin race day performance.
The next focus for Kirsty will be attaining selection to the fifth step, the Swim England Youth Performance Squad (YPS), which prepares swimmers for international competitions, in particular the European Junior Championships.
Congratulations to all four swimmers for their hard work and successes so far.
