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Two young swimmers, who both train with a Dubai club, have shone at the national championships held recently in their respective home countries. Jasmine Brennan, 12, and Maxence Adam, 15, put in personal best performances in Ireland and France.
Their coach, Greg Hodge, who has trained the Australian swim squad as well as the UAE team in the past, now runs DubaiSwim, based at Jumeirah English-Speaking School (JESS) near Safa Park.
He said he was delighted with the results his athletes achieved.
Brennan, whose rivals had a year’s advantage over her, won silvers in the 200m and 100m breaststroke events at the Irish National Youth Championships. Brennan’s ninth-place finish in the 100m freestyle was achieved in a personal best time of 1.06.41, a two second improvement for her.
A thrilled Hodge said Brennan could one day become part of the Ireland or England national set-up.“She did incredibly well. The girl who beat her is from Northern Ireland, so Jasmine is actually the fastest in her age group in the Republic,” he said.
“She has another year to develop and improve in that category and she is in a good position of being able to swim for Ireland or England.”
The coach added that Brennan’s swim was all the more impressive considering that she had caught a cold prior to the event and was under pressure to swim well in front of a large contingent of friends and family.
“She handled the pressure really well,” explained Hodge, who attended the championships with Brennan.
“This was her first competition in the region and competing in the national championships is a huge responsibility for her.
“She had done some minor competitions in England the week before and that’s where she picked up a cold, so she has coped really well.”
Hodge’s other charge, Adam, who has competed in the French National Youth Championships in previous years, decided this time around to remain in Dubai in the run-up to the big competition.
Under the supervision of Hodge, he refined his technique and fine-tuned himself for the championship.
“He gave away up to two years in age to his competitors and his achievements have set him to be at the top of his age group in next year’s championships to be held in Paris,” said Hodge, who flew from Dublin to Lille to help Adam at the event.
“He did really, really well. He swam personal best times in every event, reaching two finals and making it to the elite French national ESPOIRE squad.
“It was an outstanding result and testimony to Max’s commitment over the past year,” the coach said.
Adam’s performance has won him a scholarship to any one of the 10 sports institutes in France.
This scholarship would allow him to take part in schooling and swimming with sports science and sports medicine integrated into an elite training programme.
All-rounder Adam twice broke 30 seconds in the 50m backstroke, improving his national ranking from 46th to 10th.
He broke the magic minute barrier in the 100m butterfly knocking one second off his personal best and climbing up the rankings from 47th to 18th overall and top 10 in his age group.
Adam also took 1.1s off his 50m butterfly time to reach the A final in 26.43s and is now ranked fourth from 46th, making him the third fastest 15-year-old in France in that class.
He also put in a heroic performance in the 100m freestyle which came immediately after the 50m fly to score yet another personal best, bettering his previous time to the new mark of 55.31s.
Hodge believes that both Brennan and Adam are athletes to watch out for in the future.
“The signs are very encouraging,” he said. “Jasmine is making excellent progress. Max probably has further to go as the French are one of the leading European swimming countries.
“They have some excellent athletes but as most male swimmers don’t mature until their mid-20s, he has plenty of time.
“He has also shown that he has the commitment and the ability to make huge improvements.”
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