A Parent Guide to Competing/Galas

 

Introduction

 

As a parent and/or a new member you may have a little or perhaps no experience of the different types of swimming competitions we at Stanway Swim Club offer. This can seem quite daunting, hopefully the following provides a useful resource. It aims to cover the types of Galas/Meets that the swimmers may be involved in, how to enter, what can be expected on the day and what parents/swimmers need to prepare for a successful competition swim.

 

As a competitive swim club, it is our aim to prepare all swimmers for Galas. If you are unsure if your swimmer is ready to compete, coaches are happy to meet and discuss with you, please contact the club direct.

 

Why Compete?

• It’s fun! – Yes it really is great for the swimmers to experience the joy of competing.
• Promotes Team Spirit – At Stanway we are incredibly proud of all our swimmers and actively encourage a sense of team spirit, enjoyment, and support in every event we attend.
• Track Progress – At each Gala swimmers (and parents) have the opportunity to see how there swim times are improving. PB’s (Personal Best Times) are recorded for later use.
• Confidence boosting – There is always a nervous energy around competing, particularly if it your first time. There is a great sense of achievement in swimmers who compete.
• Improves Coaching – Competing gives the coaches an opportunity to review swimmers progress to take back to the training pool.
• Opportunities to compete at County, Regional and National levels – Official times go towards qualifying times for higher level meets/galas.

 

We understand that there are a range of commitments to swimmers competing, including financial, time and travel, so we aim to offer entry to a number of competitions (both internal and external) throughout the year to be as inclusive as possible.

Swim Meets & Entry Requirements

There are several different types of swimming meets and they all have different entry requirements.  Hopefully the following notes will explain type and the differences between them.

Club Time Trials

We hold time trials several times per year.  All members of Stanway Swim Club are invited and encouraged to take part (including Development Squad Club Train members).  They are not usually licensed but are an additional means for our Coaches to monitor each swimmer’s progress in all four strokes. It is also provides an excellent introduction into competitive open galas.

Club Championships

Similar to Club Time Trials, our annual Club Champs are open to all members of Stanway Swim Club. The Club Champs usually held in October/November. Medals are awarded to the top three swimmers in each age grouping for each event and presented at the annual award evening a few weeks later.

Licensed Open Meets

British Swimming and the Amateur Swimming Association operate a licensing system for open meets as follows, broadly there are 4 levels:

Meet Levels a rough guide: 

Level 4 – often referred to as ‘novice’ or ‘Invitational’ galas are suitable for development swimmers to gain experience and up to date times. Entry times are generally not needed. 

 

Level 3 – Often referred to as ‘open’ galas will usually have entry times to qualify with upper and lower times to prevent very fast swimmers and novice swimmers entering. These are suitable for squad swimmers wanting more gala experience and improve PB times as well as to obtain qualification for County and regional events.

 

Open Galas are by far the most common events we attend, see further details below.

 

Level 2 – County and regional galas for swimmers who have obtain qualifying times.

 

Level 1 - Similar to level 2 except these are held in a 50m pool and count towards national qualifying times.

Open Galas – General Information

Open Meets are known as “Opens” due to the fact that entry is open to any swimmer, from any club, who meets the qualifying times and age requirements.  They are busy meets with anywhere between 200 and 300 (sometimes more!) swimmers in attendance.  To enable as many events and swimmers as possible, Opens are held over one whole day of the weekend, usually Sunday.  However, larger meets can be held over a whole weekend.

Entering an open Gala

All Open meets have an entry form which needs to be completed and all host clubs charge a fee per event entered (currently these range from £5-£10 per event, the cost is set by the hosting club).  Swimmers’ entry times are required for each event. It maybe (particularly if you are entering a gala for the first time) that you do not have a qualifying time to enter and have no idea of what time to use! In this situation, please speak to one of the coaching staff who will be able to offer some guidance, similarly a message on the parent WhatsApp group might answer most queries.

Gala invites are sent via email by our Gala Manager and entries are done by the member via SwimClubManager (unless it is a self-entry gala). All information pertaining to the gala is sent to every eligible member by the club with full details on how to enter.

It is very important that these details are read and understood, particularly the date and timings of events and the entry requirements. As galas can span over an entire weekend please always make note of which session your event/s are in. You don’t want to spend all weekend by a pool waiting for your swimmer to compete is one 50m race in each separate session - You have been warned!

You will also need to pay particular attention to the deadline date – this is Stanway’s deadline date as once all our swimmers have responded with their entries it is the club that submits the total entries to the gala organiser. We like to enter galas as early as possible to ensure everyone gets their entries accepted as some galas fill up very quickly and the promoter can refuse entries if they are already full.

There is usually a follow up email close to the Gala date with final information, timings, and confirmation of events.

What to expect on the day

Arrive early! Usually at least 15-30 minutes before your scheduled warm up. Swimmers proceed directly to the changing rooms and then poolside, parents and spectators follow signs to the viewing areas.

Swimmers are seeded into heats for each event from the slowest to the fastest using their entry times.  Usually, the ages are mixed but events will always be separated into male/open and female.  Awards/Medals are made to the fastest swimmers in each event and age group – sometimes it’s the first three, sometimes the first six. It is important to understand that even if your swimmer comes first in their heat it does NOT mean they have come first in their age group as faster swimmers of the same age may swim in a later heat. In most cases the age group is set by the last date of the gala.

Taking part in an open meet can bring a swimmer a great sense of achievement, especially if they  achieve a PB in one or more events.  There is usually a team entered from the Club which makes for a social occasion and swimmers start to recognise and get to know swimmers from other clubs.  Parents can also get to know one another by sitting together to cheer for their children.  They can also support the Club by training to become an official or team manager.

Equipment

As well as obvious items like hats, goggles, towels and race suits/shorts, swimmers will need their Stanway Swim Club shirt, a warm top such as a Stanway hoodie and a pair of poolside shoes. Marshalling areas (where swimmers are gathered to be put into race order) can often be away from poolside, so sliders or flip flops are a must. But probably the most important thing to remember is enough food and drink to last for the whole event!

Essex County Championships

Each year around January and February, the Essex County Championships are held usually at the London Aquatics Centre (LAC). The championships are spread over two weekends and are licensed at Level 1.  They are swum long course (50m) and the events are open to swimmers aged 10 years (+) as at 31st December.

There are Automatic (auto) qualifying times for each event and age group, which are notoriously tough, and swimmers should ensure they have achieved the qualifying time before entering.  If a swimmer has achieved an ‘auto’ time their entry will ‘automatically’ be accepted into the relevant event(s).  The Club likes to encourage as many eligible swimmers as possible to enter these Championships,

Information about the Championships can be found on: www.essexswimming.org

 

 

East Region Championships

The next level of competition after the county championships is the regional championships which are also licensed at Level 1.  These are split into two age ranges:

• Youth championships are usually held on the first weekend in May for males and females aged 15 years and over.  (subject to change)
• Age Group championships are usually held on the second and third weekends in May for ages 11-14 years.  (subject to change)

The regional championships are always swum long course (50m pool) and the qualifying times are harder than the county times.  The rules for entry are quite strict and state that “Competitors must have equalled or bettered the published entry qualifying time at an event licensed at Levels 1, 2 or 3 by Swim England.  In all circumstances, the entry time must be registered on the Swim England rankings database”.

Entry times must have been achieved in the 12 months immediately preceding the closing date for the Championships.  There is an entry fee per event.  Swimmers’ entry times are checked against the British Swimming database and the Club will not process entries from swimmers who have not achieved the required times.  All the information regarding the regional championships can be found on East Region’s website www.eastswimming.org

National Championships

The highest level of competition (apart from swimming for your country of course!) is the British Swimming Summer Championships which takes place across six days in July.

Swimmers are invited based on national rankings.  The top 24 in each age group and event are invited to compete at the Summer Championships in July; except for the 800m and 1500m events where the top 18 will be invited.

The rankings are on swimmers’ performances at Level 1 meets between the qualification window, typically between March and May.  Age Groups are as follows:  

Males:  13/14 years, 15 years, 16 years, 17 years & 18+

Females:  12/13 years, 14 years, 15 years, 16 years & 17+

A swimmer who achieves even one National time should feel extremely proud of themselves.

Other Useful Information

Swim England Database

Swim England operate a database which shows, among other things, a swimmer’s personal best times for the current 12-month period.  Every time a swimmer competes in a licensed open meet their time in each event will be entered on the database along with the date, name of the meet and the venue.  Swimmers can then use this database to double check their eligibility for entering open meets and county, regional and national championships.  Also, swimmers can see where they are placed in their age group for each stroke within the county, region and nationally and can monitor their own progress.

To access this database, go to Individual Best Times | Swim England (swimmingresults.org) Swimmers can enter their ASA number and see a list of their personal best times. 

Heat Declared Winner (HDW)

This term is used for events where there is no final.  It means that awards will be decided after all the heats for an event have been swum.  At most open meets, and at our Club Champs, age groups are mixed in speed order in each event and results are split into age groupings before any winners are decided.  Confusion sometimes arises with heat declared winner events:  it is NOT the winner of each HEAT who wins an award, but rather the fastest three swimmers of each AGE GROUP of each EVENT after all the heats have been swum.

Finals

At some large open meets there are finals of each event.  These are always split into boys and girls and are usually per age grouping.  The swimmers who will take part in a final are decided after all the heats of each event have been swum.  They will be the swimmers who have posted the eight (depending on the number of lanes in the pool) fastest times in each age grouping in each event.  These swimmers will be the ones receiving the awards – sometimes awards are presented to all finalists, but it could just be the fastest three in each final.  If a swimmer does not make it into a final, he or she will not be receiving an award even if they won their heat.

Long Course and Short Course Meets

There are two modern pool lengths as follows:

• Short Course – this refers to a pool which is 25m in length.
• Long Course – this refers to a pool which is 50m in length.

When host clubs advertise an open meet, they will specify whether it will be a “short course” or a “long course” meet i.e. swum in a 25m pool or a 50m pool.  On the entry forms you will be asked to submit either short or long course times.  This does not mean that they want the times for just 25m or 50m of each event, but rather the times for each whole event when swum in a pool of 25m or 50m in length. 

To convert times, follow the attached link www.pullbuoy.co.uk/times where you will be able to convert times from short course to long course and vice versa.  Please use ‘ASA Tables’ when converting.

ALL information needed to enter an Open meet can be found in the hosting club’s Meet Conditions.