Swim Wales have released their revised selection policies for the 2020/2021 season. This includes procedures for the National Squad Programmes, National Skills Academy and National Para Performance Centre. The announcement was accompanied by a short statement, which quoted “the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the effect on competitive opportunities” as the main reasoning behind the revision.
The statement also said: “The revised procedures aim to maintain the integrity of the original procedures, published on the 11th March 2020, while providing the greatest possible opportunity for athletes to gain selection given the exceptional circumstances arising from the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Presumably, many other countries will have to revisit their selection policies for both National Squads and the Olympic Games due the coronavirus pandemic. One that we have already reported came from British Swimming, who released a new two-part revised Olympic selection process in March.
Main Points – National Squad Programme:
- Selections to the National Squad Programme (NSP) will be made from performances at all accredited short course and long course meets from July 1st 2019 to March 15th 2020. Overseas meets over the same period may be considered at the discretion of the selection panel
- All selections to the NSP will be announced before September 5th 2020
- All selections will be made by the selection board, which consists of the National Performance Director, National Coach Development and Performance Pathway Manager, National Para Pathway Manager and Sport Wales Performance Advisor
- Discretionary selections have been in the previous selection procedures, but this time around will be particularly important because of the “lack of competition opportunities between the period 16th March 2020 and August 2020”. This allows the panel to select an athlete who may not have reached the criteria but is designed for an element of “professional judgement towards assessing swimmer potential”
The National Skills Academy is a development pathway for young swimmers, described as being “an educational programme for swimmers and coaches”. Males aged 13/14 and females aged 12/13 are eligible.
Main Points – National Skills Academy
- Selection will be made based on performances at accredited long and short course competitions between September 1st 2019 to March 15th 2020
- Swimmers need to be ranked in the top 2 (previously top 3) in Wales in a minimum of one Olympic event (with the exception of 200IM)
- Swimmers need to be ranked in the top 5 in Wales in the 200IM (both of these rankings will be taken from the period mentioned above in point 1)
Main Points – National Para Performance Centre
- Selections will be made for swimmers who have (i) achieved the criteria and eligibility outlined at the bottom of this document or (ii) have been identified through the Swim Wales para talent screening process
- Para-swimmers aged 10+ as of December 31st 2020 are eligible
- Selections will be announced on September 5th 2020
The statement added: “Swim Wales have recently announced a series of National Squad Education and Engagement sessions for athletes selected to the 2019/20 programmes, and Swim Wales remains committed to providing an inclusive, progressive and highly effective National Squad pathway in 2020/21 and through the challenges ahead”.
All the new selection procedure documents can be found here.