Swim Connacht host a jam-packed weekend of learning at the 2023 Connacht Coaching Conference in Athlone. More than 50 coaches enjoyed ten workshops and the perfect platform to connect with industry experts and swim coach professionals.

Experts covered many aspects of our sport including planning and sequencing for age-group programmes, dry land considerations, dive starts and turn progressions from an exciting line-up of specialists – including Loughborough University experts, Dr Mike Peyrebrune and Ian Armiger; strength and conditioning coach, Niamh Buffini; performance psychologist and Connacht Olympian, Nicholas Quinn; head coach of New Ross SC, Fran Ronan and Swim Ireland’s Kate Hills.

Huge thanks to all our speakers; attending coaches; supporters – Patricia Cleary, Athlone Swimming Club, SwimKit.ie and the 25 clubs from Connacht, Leinster and Ulster – Aer Lingus Swimming Club, Athlone Swimming Club, Ballina Swimming Club, Ballina Dolphins Swimming Club, Bluefin Swimming Club, Breifne ASC, Castlebar Swimming Club, Claremorris Swimming Club, Coman’s Swimming Club, County Sligo Swimming Club, East Cavan Swimming Club, Galway Swimming Club, Killarney Swimming Club, Laois Marlins Swimming Club, Laser Swimming Club, Longford Swimming Club, Marlins ASC, Mullingar Jets Swimming Club, New Ross Swimming Club, Shark Swimming Club, St Fiacc’s Swimming Club, Swilly Seals ASC, Terenure Swimming Club, Trident Swimming Club and Tuam Swimming Club.

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 
Regional Sports Centre and Radisson Blu, Athlone

TALKS + DISCUSSIONS + INTERACTIVE CLINICS

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SPEAKERS

Ian Armiger 
Olympic Coach and former director of swimming at Loughborough University
Click here to learn more about Ian

Dr Mike Peyrebrune 
Technical Advisor and Sport Scientist for British Swimming Olympic Teams
Click here to learn more about Mike

Niamh Buffini 
Performance Strength and Conditioning Coach to Paralympic silver medallist Nicole Turner and Taekwondo Olympic Coach
Click here to learn more about Niamh

Nicholas Quinn 
Performance Psychologist and Connacht Olympian
Click here to learn more about Nicholas

Fran Ronan 
Head Coach, New Ross Swimming Club and Sports Psychologist
Click here to learn more about Fran

Kate Hills
Head of Safeguarding, Ethics and Youth Development
Click here to learn more about Kate

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BOOK HERE

Weekend Ticket €80 (8 CPD points)
Saturday Only €40 (3 CPD points)
Sunday Only €75 (5 CPD points)

Includes tea and coffee, plus breakfast and lunch on Sunday!

Fran discusses CO-OMPETITION… the impact of coaching collaboration on youth development

Fran Ronan the Head coach of New Ross Swimming Club, and she is the Principal Sports Officer for Sports Active Wexford – a role which involves strategic managing opportunities for participation in physical activity for all.

Fran has been coaching at national level for over 25 years; she swam at international level and played hockey, both indoors and outdoors at national level.

From her beginnings as the assistant age group coach for the University of Bath programme, Fran has been selected for British Swimming National Programmes and Swim Ireland High Performance Programmes at three European Juniors, three Celtic Tri-Nations and the US Open Championships. Fran has coached swimmers who’ve represented GB and Ireland at the Olympics Games in 2012 and 2016, and Swim Ireland Junior and Senior international teams.

Fran was selected as a member of the select coaches’ group, performance in Excellence programme – Irish Institute of Sport 2009-2011, which then was developed into the Horizon PEP 2012-2013, and then Fran mentored the programme in 2014-2015. Now, Fran is a member of Sport Ireland’s Female Elite Coaching Programme.

Fran has a Masters in Applied Exercise and Sport Psychology and a Professional Doctorate in Human Performance and Innovation. Fran has applied theory and research into her coaching, and through better understanding and application in the coaching environment, Fran believes she has improved her performance and that of her athletes.

Meet Fran on Sunday:
CO-OMPETITION, The Impact of Coaching Collaboration on Youth Development

Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2023
Regional Sports Centre and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone

BOOK HERE

Kate discusses the Challenges and Adversities of Club Level Swimming at the Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Kate has been working with Swim Ireland as the Head of Safeguarding and the National Children’s Officer for 17 years, overseeing changes to legislation and safeguarding practices to ensure Swim Ireland Safeguarding Policies are up-to-date and relevant for our sport.  As the Head of Safeguarding, Kate reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer in Swim Ireland and, through the CEO, to the Swim Ireland Board.  Kate also works closely with the Swim Ireland Athletes’ Commissions advising on safeguarding matters to ensure the protection and confidentiality of athlete information is maintained and concerns are dealt with in the correct manner.    

Kate currently holds a Master’s Degree in Child Protection and Welfare and is writing a thesis on understanding the stressors and challenges of club level swimmers for a Professional Doctorate in Childhood Studies.  Kate also sits on the strategic groups for safeguarding children in sport in both Sport Ireland and Sport NI.      

Meet Kate at the Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 November: Challenges and Adversities of Club Level Swimming

Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2023
Regional Sports Centre and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone

BOOK HERE

Motivational Tools from Performance Psychologist and Olympian, Nicholas Quinn

Nicholas’s career spans the domains of competitive swimming and business consulting. As an Olympic swimmer, Nicholas represented Ireland internationally for over ten years, including his participation in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games before recently moving into a role as a Management Consultant.

Alongside his athletic pursuits, Nicholas completed a Master’s degree in Performance Psychology from Edinburgh University. Here he focused his attention on resilience and how performance can be optimised across several domains. Nicholas took these academic learnings applying them in both his swimming and management consulting careers.

Nicholas understands what it takes to succeed across several domains and remains heavily involved in swimming through his role as co-chair of the newly established Swim Ireland Athletes’ Commission.

Meet Nicholas in Athlone on Sunday 26 November

Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2023
Regional Sports Centre and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone

BOOK HERE

Niamh will deliver strategies for dry-land and exercise blocking for age group swimmers at the Connacht Coaching Conference 2023 and coaches take away a complete dry-land warm up; dry-land/gym exercise blocking, session breakdown PDF and follow-up video demonstrations via private youtube links.

Niamh Buffini is a strength and conditioning professional heavily involved in performance sport. She uses her early life experiences to build her successful skills and experience in helping athletes reach the podium. In dealing with people and communities in sport and business Niamh has built a strong relationship with the sport of swimming has been involved at club and regional level delivering strength and conditioning profiling, programs and on site activation. 

See Niamh at the Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Sunday 26 November: Dryland for Age Group Swimmers

Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2023
Regional Sports Centre and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone

BOOK HERE

A well respected, experienced, highly motivated and enthusiastic professional swimming coach, technical advisor, consultant and coach mentor

In a coaching career spanning over 40 years, Ian’s swimmers have won medals, titles and set records at World, European, Commonwealth and British level.

A former Director of Swimming at Loughborough University, Ian has placed swimmers on teams at six Olympic Games, with swimmers making Olympic finals at three of these.

In 2007, Ian was awarded the Mussabini Medal for services to Coaching, was presented with the Loughborough University Medal for outstanding service in 2012, inducted into the British Swimming Coaches Hall of Fame in 2013, and Loughborough University Sport Hall of Fame in 2018.

As a consultant, Ian currently offers a mentoring, technical and strategic consultancy service to coaches and swimming programmes, and advises corporate management on the high performance sport environment and its potential application in the business sector.

See Ian at the Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday: Creative Warm-Ups
Sunday: Functional Drills for Skill Development
+ Pathway to Performance from Age Group to Senior Swimming

Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2023
Regional Sports Centre and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone

BOOK HERE

A unique and excellent opportunity for coaches to learn from one of the best and help improve applied coaching knowledge.

Mike is a consultant Sports Scientist and Coach for British Swimming and Loughborough University and was part of the Olympic staff at 3 Olympics (Beijing, London, Rio).  He is a former British International Swimmer and Coach and has worked with international swimmers for 30 years. In the last 12 years he has worked closely with Olympic Gold medallists Rebecca Adlington, Adam Peaty and their coaches.

Mike currently works with some of the world’s best swimmers including Ireland’s Dan and Nathan Wiffen, and Conor Ferguson. He has delivered over a hundred workshops and clinics over the past 30 years and has contributed heavily to the coach education programmes in Ireland and the UK. Academically, he has published widely and hi written material is used in the Swim England Level 2 and 3 courses and has been adopted by FINA for their international coach education programme.

See Mike at the Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday: Planning and Sequencing Age Group Programmes
+ Dive Start Progressions
Sunday: Long and Short Axis Turns
+ Pathway to Performance from Age Group to Senior Swimming

Connacht Coaching Conference 2023

Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November 2023
Regional Sports Centre and the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone

BOOK HERE