Danielle Farrell (14), a highly successful swimmer with County Sligo Swim Club will soon be flying to Manila in the Philippines to represent her home country in the SE Asia Swimming Championships in early July. Danielle holds dual Irish/Filipino citizenship as her Mum Julie is originally from Manila. Danielle will compete as part of the Philippines’ Junior team at this tournament, which attracts the best swimmers from all over the South East Asian region. Organised under FINA rules, the international governing body for swimming, this international competition operates to a very high standard so Danielle hopes to swim well, achieve personal best times (PBs) and if all goes as planned, make it to the finals.
Danielle began swimming under the guidance of coach Catherine Brady in Sligo, who then suggested she enter the local Community Games swimming competition. Her potential was spotted there by CSSC coach Sheila Ryan who encouraged Danielle to join the swim club and for eight years now she has trained diligently. CSSC coach Eduardo Santos and his team have coached Danielle through three seasons and during this time she progressed from a club level swimmer to a national level swimmer due to her commitment and effort. “Danielle has achieved her goals earlier than expected due to her development and hard work, I am proud and very happy with her dedication” commented Eduardo.
Already this year Danielle has competed successfully at the Irish Short Course Championships in Lisburn and the Irish Long Course Championships in Dublin where she qualified for the Scottish National Age Group Championships which take place at the end of this month in Glasgow. She also excelled at the Munster-Connacht Youth Open Championships in Limerick in early May winning 8 gold medals and 3 bronze.
In addition to regular training in Sligo, Danielle trains once a month with the Connacht Swimming Squad and coach Sarah Fellner. Her ambition is to make the National Squad which is well within reach considering Danielle is currently only 14 years old. The key to her success? According to Danielle, training is as easy or hard as you want it to be, so to succeed an athlete must choose their goals well.
