Swim Ireland, in conjunction with the University of Limerick, have appointed Lars Humer as the new Head Coach at the High Performance Centre at the University Arena. Humer will take up his new position on Monday next 14th January 2013.
Originally from New Zealand, where he competed as a swimmer before becoming a coach, Humer has been a High Performance coach with British Swimming for the past 13 years. In that position he has coached both Paralympic and Olympic swimmers at various centres in the UK.
Swim Ireland National Performance Director Peter Banks said “We are delighted to have Lars on board, he has huge experience and a proven track record in coaching performance swimmers. I know he will do a great job in Limerick. Swim Ireland has started on a new Performance Pathway to 2016 and having performance centres with top class coaches in all four regions is the foundation and first step on that pathway.”
Director of Sport at the University of Limerick Dave Mahedy commented “We are delighted to welcome Lars to Limerick and we look forward to working together with Lars and Swim Ireland in the future”.
Speaking of his appointment Humer said “I’m looking forward to the challenge of working with a new group of swimmers. Swim Ireland has a great structure in place already and I’m excited by the prospect of working within that structure”
Commenting on today’s announcement Swim Ireland’s Chief Executive Sarah Keane said “We are thrilled to welcome Lars to the Swim Ireland team. He is the right person to succeed Ronald Claes as we move forward into a new Olympic Cycle with a new High Performance strategy. We believe Lars has the passion and experience to help Irish swimmers develop and deliver results at European and World level. We are grateful to the Irish Sports Council and University of Limerick for their support and we are excited about working together to further deliver for Irish Swimming and Irish Sport.”
Media will have an opportunity to meet with Lars Humer on Monday 14th January in the Arena Sports Club at the University of Limerick. If you would like to attend please contact Trish Mayon in Swim Ireland on 086-8094786/(01) 6251138 or e-mail [email protected].
Profile: Lars Humer
Lars Humer was born and raised in Dunedin, New Zealand with swimming and surf life-saving at the core of an active lifestyle. As a young swimmer he had a successful athletic career that became the corner stone for international coaching and helped him to develop a diverse range of coaching and leadership skills.
He represented New Zealand Open Water Swim Team from 1982 – 1984 but he was most successful in the sport of Surf Life Saving and represented New Zealand as an International athlete for 10 years in the 80s. This included winning the NZ Surf Ironman title 3 years in a row, being NZ Team Captain, winning World Championship events and competing on the Surf Ironman Pro Circuit in Australia.
Lars began his coaching career in New Zealand in 1978, coaching both surf life-saving and swimming clubs, he was coach to the New Zealand World Life Saving Champions in 1998.
Since 1999 Lars has worked in international swimming in the UK and for the last 11 years has been employed by British Swimming. In 2001 he moved to the British Swimming High Performance Centre in Manchester as the Assistant Coach until the 2002 Commonwealth Games before taking up the role of GB Head Coach for British Para Swimming for 7 years. In December 2009 he moved to Stockport Metro, a British Swimming Intensive Training Centre, as Assistant Coach.
Lars, who holds an ASA Level 4 Swim Coach Qualification, was most recently one of the team coaches for Great Britain at the London 2012 Olympic Games. As well as Coaching at the Olympic Games, where he had five athletes with four finalists including two fourth places, Lars has had success with medallists at European and World Championships, Commonwealth Games and Paralympic Games.