Change Is A Good Thing For Melanie
20th July
The Newsletter
By Nigel Ringland
Change is sometimes a good thing and for Melanie Nocher it appears that shaking up her life in the pursuit of being the best swimmer she can be will pay dividends in the end.
It was her performance at the Olympics in Beijing last year, where she produced a new Irish record in the 200m backstroke and finished an credible twentieth, that was the catalyst for her to move out of her comfort zone of home and into the environment provided at Loughborough University, the centre of excellence for British swimming.
“I think it was just the right time, the pool at the Grove had closed and I’d been over a few times at Loughborough before and I’d really enjoyed it and after the Olympics I decided that I had to make the move to get to the next level and that was the best decision for me,” she explains.
“I have great training facilities, all that I need and access to the best coaches. It was a personal decision, I felt like I needed to get away from Ireland and have a little bit of independence and grow up and learn what it is like to be away from home and still do what I want to do and that’s swim.”
She is coached by Steve Bayley who is involved in the Team GB set-up and in a training group that includes Olympic bronze medalist Jo Jackson and Fran Halsall.
Her day can begin as early as 5.30am where she has to fit in swimming, her gym work and then juggle her lectures around that. She is studying Sports Science.
Despite her move away from home she is still grateful for the help and back up she receives from the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland at UUJ.
“I couldn’t do what I’m able to do without the help from SINI. I’ve been a member now for five years and just knowing that I have their support and back up means a lot. I can still pick up the phone and talk to them and it’s so nice to know that when I’m at home I’m still very much part of things and that I can still get the advice and treatment and use the facilities that SINI provide. It’s always as if I’ve never left and I feel very much part of the team.”
Nocher Suffers Setback Ahead Of Worlds
Melanie Nocher’s build-up to the World Championships in Rome later this month hasn’t gone, as she would have liked.
She has suffered from a number of chest infections and only a dose of anti-biotics have recently cleared the illness up allowing her a block of four weeks tough training leading into the recent World University Games in Serbia.
Now she’ll approach Rome looking to match her performances in Beijing last year.
“It’s hard to know exactly how I’m going to do at the Worlds. I wasn’t properly tapered for the University Games and I was still just a second off my personal best in the 200m backstroke. For me I would expect to swim a lot better at the World Championships and get a lot closer to my personal best times,” she says.
Despite the impression that she has been around a long time, Melanie is still just 21 and is clear in her mind about the bigger picture and her longer-term goals.
She admits, “Next year I’m looking forward to doing everything right. I’m definitely excited about what’s to come including the Commonwealth Games next year and then the big goal in London 2012. I realize there is a lot of hard work ahead and it’s not going to happen overnight and for me I’m concentrating on next year when I’ll be able to focus in on the Commonwealths in Delhi. For me, I’m still in the starting blocks if you like, but full of the enthusiasm and motivation for what I do. Sometimes it’s difficult to look three years ahead but I’m old enough now to know what I want and if I didn’t want to swim I wouldn’t be doing it but for me, I just want to give it my best shot and see what I can achieve.”
Name: Melanie Nocher (Mel)
D.O.B: June 1988
Height: 5Feet 10 Inches
Club: Loughborough University
Home Club: Ards S.C
Coach: Steve Bayley
Personal Best Times
200m backstroke 2:12.0 (Irish record)
100m backstroke 1:02.5
200m freestyle 2:02.0
Top 5 major achievements
1. European Short Course Championships 2008 (Croatia) - Finished: 5th - Time: 2.06.5 (NEW Irish Record)
2. Beijing Olympics 200backstroke - Finished: 20th - Time: 2.12.21
3. British Nationals (July 2008) - Finished: 1st - Achieved “A” Standard Olympic Qualifying Time
4. European Long Course (March 2008) - Finished: 9th
5. World Championships 2007 Individual Medley - Finished: 20th
With thanks to Richard Mulligan, Sports Editor of The Newsletter
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