Swim England Talent Pathway selection criteria for 2021-22 released

Swim England’s Talent Pathway Selection Criteria for the 2021-22 season has been released and will see ‘positivity, fairness and inclusion’ being championed across the programme.

The strategic goal of Swim England Talent is to create a system that will identify, support and enhance the development of athletes for the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games of the future.

Each stage of the national pathway is detailed within the guidelines and outlines how athletes are selected onto the four-stage national framework.

The framework is comprised of the National Development Programme, National Event Camps, Swim England Junior Squad and Swim England Performance Squad.

The all-encompassing approach that facilitates the Optimal Athlete Development Framework (OADF) will see athletes being guided on technical and tactical aspects of their stroke as well as nutrition, mental wellbeing, race execution and post-training recovery.

Innovative tools such as video analysis will be utilised in order to enhance the delivery of the programme’s content, which ultimately aims to holistically develop the participants as people, athletes, and performers.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant athletes on the talent pathway this season have taken part in a mix of online training and poolside activity, which will continue in 2021-22.

‘Enhance their development as athletes and individuals’

Grant Robins, Swim England head of talent – swimming, said of the release: “This selection criteria has been designed with fairness, transparency and inclusion in mind after what has been a challenging year for our athletes.

“The pathway will be a fun, positive experience for the athletes selected – and is it hoped that it fosters curiosity within the sport and encourages an environment of lifelong learning leading to some fantastic performance outcomes.

“Our job as Swim England Talent is to guide athletes along their swimming journey and add value to their daily training environment to and enhance their development, not only as swimmers but as individuals too.

“This season brings with it many exciting prospects for swimmers in this country so we are looking forward to beginning this journey with them later this year.”