A review of the 15th International Swimming Meet which also embraced the 2008 ASA Swimming Championships will show that the numerous club swimmers under the care of dedicated coaches should be given all the support they need to keep improving.
Considering our limited human resources and the fact that potential talent is still not fully discovered since the school population in our country remains largely untapped, we tend to concentrate on the very few who make it to the top or thereabouts.
But that must not deter us from working hard to attain our goals.
Moreover, when a swimmer of Maltese stock who is based abroad is unearthed, our technical knowhow and financial means are channelled towards that individual in the hope of helping our country win a podium place in the international arena.
That, again, is positive, even if some will contend that our attention must not be focused almost exclusively on that particular swimmer.
Indeed, excellence must be the motivation of every athlete. But such quality is only attained once there is proper grooming of an extensive base of youngsters. The approach has to be holistic.
In recent years some budding swimmers have been making their mark locally and gradually re-writing the local record books.
Further improvement is being sought through participation abroad, at times through their families' financial support. The clubs are playing an important role in these overseas ventures, because only through such wider participation can our swimmers maintain their progress.
This year's International Meet again turned out to be of benefit to our upcoming boys and girls, as several personal bests have highlighted the event between Thursday and Saturday of last week.
This was attested by national coach Andy Colbourn, who expressed his satisfaction that there was all-round progress, especially at the roots.
"Once again, our swimmers showed their continuing improvement not just by producing faster times and setting many new PBs, but also in their pre-race preparation and warm-up," he said.
"All swimmers were a credit to their teams and their results were due not just to their hard work but also to the dedication and enthusiasm of their coaches."
The national coach highlighted the role these club coaches are playing in our bid to keep looking ahead.
"I feel that with the coaching team we currently have in Maltese swimming, we will see the standard of the sport rise rapidly," Colbourn added.
Gail Rizzo, one of the most successful mentors, was elated as her Neptunes troupes recorded an impressive 77 PBs out of 95 starts.
"It was yet another successful year for our team which has been at the top for a good number of years. Many swimmers made a vast improvement," Rizzo said.
Both Ebi Mohamedpour and Stan Catalin, the AISIS and Sliema coaches respectively, were also satisfied with their swimmers, saying that their work is reaping good results as was shown in several new thresholds reached by the youngsters.
Apart from Ryan Gambin, who set new national marks in the 100 back and 100 free, young Matthew Zammit (AISIS) broke new ground in the 'B' category with his 31.66 in the 50 'fly.
The meeting, which drew about 190 swimmers from five local and five overseas teams, reserved some exciting races for the crowd that attended the five sessions. Above all, it was gratifying to see the interest this sport is generating among the Maltese.
Ryan Gambin's perspectives
Many of those who attended this year's ASA championships towards the end of last week must have focused their attention on Ryan Gambin, the Maltese newcomer from Australia, fresh from his participation in the Europeans in Eindhoven some days earlier.
Obviously, there was some expectation as far as his performances were concerned. However, the 22-year-old, although entered for various races, was aware that the event at Tal-Qroqq was an anti-climax for him after breaking four national records in the 50 'fly, back and free (24.81, 26.78 and 23.97) and the 100 metres 'fly where he obtained an Olympic group 'B' qualifying time of 54.33.
Gambin opted to be economical as to the number of races he swam. He preferred to reserve his energies for a couple of events, the 100 back (during the first leg of the medley relay) and the 100 free.
Those turned out to be two races in which he set new national marks of 1:01.69 and 53.97 respectively.
"Taking part in Eindhoven has definitely put Malta on the swimming map," Gambin told The Times last weekend.
"I couldn't go anywhere wearing the Maltese tracksuit without someone whispering behind me 'Wow, Malta'. It is safe to say that even as a team of one, we did not go unnoticed.
"Four from four PBs is a positive result for anyone, but for me it was a little more special. The atmosphere in Eindhoven played a big part in my performances," the likeable Gambin said.
Unlike other swimmers representing other countries, Gambin had to do most of his preparation on his own. He said that entailed a lot of sacrifice.
"I have a goal and will stop at nothing to achieve it. I left my family, my friends, my lifestyle and began looking after every aspect of my swimming by myself and taking out loans to support my goals," Gambin said.
"I sat down and wrote out a training programme that suited my events. I am thrilled to have made history and become the first swimmer ever to have qualified for the Olympics for Malta.
"I love my new adopted home of Malta and want to do everything in my power to make people proud," Gambin stressed with more than a tinge of patriotic feeling.
"I am a proud Maltese citizen living and training under the same conditions as everyone else here. If I can swim the times and set the national records that I have, then any other aspiring swimmer here in Malta can, too, and I would be happy to offer my help along the way.
"The next few months are going to be a lot of hard work while trying to find time for my studies. But I'm going to push myself harder than ever, and it excites me to do so. Talks are already in place for me to spend time training with the Italians and the Spanish teams. That will be invaluable in my preparation."
Referring to the GSSE, he said that he would be happy if he could have a little strain on his budget taken off so that he could bring some honour to his country.
"Results like this could bring a whole new generation of inspired youngsters to take up swimming as their chosen sport," he said while again thanking the MOC and the ASA for their help.
"I also thank my new coach Andy Colbourn, who forfeits a lot of his own personal time to oversee some of my training. He provided scientific help through breathing training so that I could finish my second 50 of my 100m fly faster than I had ever done before," Gambin said.
Finally, and referring to the impact his new standards will have on our locally-bred swimmers, Gambin emphasised that having new standards to look up to is not something to be discouraged by.
"That should rather be an opportunity for swimmers to reach new heights," he concluded.