As a nine year old, Dalgety Bay's Eloise Barber was 'so petrified of water'she refused to set foot in a swimming pool.

But fortunately her mother dragged her off to the local pool for swimming lessons.  Five years on and the 14 year old has been selected to swim for Scotland in next month's inaugural Celtic Tri Nations Championships in Dublin (24 - 25 February).

Barber is not sure how the team selection was made and, as a hugely talented all rounder, she doesn't yet know which stroke she will swim.

“I'm good at them all but I like front crawl and individual medley,” said Eloise, who has fought off all challengers for the 100m freestyle British No.1 spot in her age group since last March.

“I'd like to get into the final and maybe get a medal but it's going to be hard because I'll be competing against all ages.  Hopefully I'll get some PB's.”

This will be the second time Eloise has swum for Scotland.  As a member of the National Junior Development Squad she was picked to compete in Germany last July.  But Dublin is an 'open' event, including senior competitors, and Eloise will be the youngest of the 15 Scottish swimmers.

If effort is anything to go by then she certainly deserves to finish with a medal.  Under the joint guidance of Carnegie coach, Gilbert Kirkwood and Tayside & Fife Institute of Sport swim coach, Gary Vandermeulen - the same team that has helped Dunfermline swimmer, Andrew Rodgie transform from club to international competitor - her weekly programme entails over 18 hours of training.  

That's between 30 and 40 kilometres over nine weekly pool sessions, with extra training on dry land.

The Tayside & Fife Institute of Sport gives her access to quality training facilities, individually tailored coaching programmes, delivered by experienced coaches and a fully integrated strength and conditioning programme. Complementing and supporting technical and tactical expertise, the Scottish Area Institute network provides access to sports science, sports medicine and performance lifestyle services.

“I've been with Gilbert for about two years and he's a very good coach,” said Eloise, who hopes to compete for Scotland in the 2010 Commonwealth Games and then for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics.

“I've been with the Tayside & Fife Institute for about a year.  It's really helped; I have a training session with Gary on Thursday night and Tuesday mornings. I use all the support like the psychologist.”

“I injured my hip last September and I had physio through the Institute and it's cleared up now. I'll probably be starting weights soon.”

Said Gary Vandermeulen: “Eloise has all the tools in her hands and she has options at her disposal which many swimmers do not have.  She has brilliant front-end speed, middle distance speed endurance, and endurance for longer swims.”

“It's certainly a challenge for Gilbert and myself to coach such a talent and to keep all of her strokes at all distances progressing until she finds her niche.”