Swimming back in full swing at the National Pool

After the buzzing activity of the waterpolo season which came to an end late in September, the National Pool at Tal-Qroqq is back in full swing, this time attracting several swimmers who have started the build-up for their targets set for different time-frames in the coming year.

Throughout last week no fewer than 150 boys and girls were at the Swimming Complex going through their preparatory rigours of a new season.

The Maltese swimmers, under the watchful eye of national coach Steven Kormos, were having a routine session prior to yesterday's time trial, the first of the new cycle.

The Hungarian coach engaged his squad members in long distance freestyle races, the usual preliminary work-outs which are not linked to the swimmers' familiar events.

These races are geared towards building the swimmers' staying power, prior to their more specialised events later on.

Alongside the Maltese swimmers there were a number of foreign teams, mainly British, who chose Malta as a venue for their training camps.

Groups of male and female swimmers from Gloucester, Exeter and Tadcaster Swimming Clubs were busily engaged in two-hour morning and afternoon sessions last week.

There were also some elite swimmers from the City of Cardiff Swimming Club, under coach Dave Haller.

For this well-known coach, who guided different British teams to several Olympic Games, the visit to Malta is the eighth one.

Malta is a familiar place for his team and for some swimmers this is not their first trip to the island.

"This time they are preparing for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games Trials to be held at the beginning of December, and I hope there will be a few more who qualify for the Games," Haller said.

On this occasion there are three swimmers in his group who have already obtained qualification time for the March 2006 Games.

These are Gregory Tait, the 100m backstroker whose time of 54.90 is a British record, Thomas Haffield a 17-year-old 400 metres Individual Medley specialist, who recently clocked an excellent 4:21.75 for the event, and David Jones, who forms part of the Welsh 4 x 200 freestyle relay team.

David Davies, the current 1,500 metres Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist and also European record-holder with a time of 14:45.95, was expected to join his team-mates in Malta over the weekend and before the group departs on Thursday.

Also forming part of the 20-strong Cardiff SC squad is Neil Agius, Malta's record-holder in the distance events.

Agius, back in Malta after he joined the Welsh club in September, will be spending a year under the guidance of Haller.

Michael Gialanze, the ASA vice-president in charge of swimming, said that the contacts he has with foreign clubs and their presence on the island, should bolster more interest in the sport among the Maltese, not the least the youngsters who are regularly attending training sessions at the National Pool.

Such contacts, complemented with more exposure to international competition on home soil or abroad, should be beneficial for our swimmers in all age categories.

Incidentally, the first venture of this sort will be early in the new year when a group of boys and girls will be taking part in an Age-Group meeting on the continent.

For the time being it is intensive preliminary work which sees the swimmers through their first three-month cycle culminating in later time trials and competition on a bigger foreign platform.

The stage is therefore set for what one hopes to be a fruitful season.