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ENTERING COMPETITIONS
There are opportunities to compete at all levels and participation is encouraged.
Young Olympian events are aimed at development swimmers within our club and are held 3 – 4 times a year. They provide an opportunity to experience a competition with familiar faces around and within a familiar environment. Other competitions are licensed by either WASA or the ASA to ensure the competition is of a quality that complies with a standard set of requirements.
Level 4 is aimed at those who are beginning competitive swimming.
Level 3 is aimed at club swimmers looking for County qualifying times.
Level 2 is for those hoping to qualify for Regional/District recognition, although if a swimmer achieves a National Qualifying Time (NQT) it can still be used for entry into the National Championships.
Level 1 is aimed at swimmers hoping to qualify for British National competition.
Official times from all licensed events are entered onto a national database and swimmers can access this via the web on www.swimmingresults.org clicking on ‘Ranking Index’ and then ‘Online ranking database.’
Qualifying times are stated on entry forms for Level 1,2 and 3 meets ie evidence of achievement of an official qualifying time is required. Usually this requires you to enter your best time and state on the entry form, the date and venue at which it was achieved. The national database may be used to check these times.
Upper limit cut off times are set in level 2 and 3 meets to enable a competition to be targeted to a particular swimming ability.
Bridgend County Club Championships are licensed at level 4 and the times achieved can therefore be legitimately used for entry into wider competition. All licensed events are governed by the FINA rules of swimming and require disqualifications to take place if the race/stroke is technically incorrect.
What does this term mean?
SCR If this appears next to your name on a list of swimmers in an event, you have been scratched ie you will not be swimming as your entry was not accepted.
HDW Heat declared winner ie there will not be a final consisting of the fastest from the heats, the winner will be the fastest swimmer during the heats. (Sometimes these races are labelled ‘Finals’ on the event programme).
LC Long course (50m pool)
SC Short course (25m pool)
DNS/DNC Did not swim/compete
DQ Disqualified
| Swim Wales Policy Statement
Competition for 8 year olds |
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| Competition type |
Minimum age |
| Events restricted to members of one club |
None |
| Swim Wales Regional Development Meet |
8 |
| Inter Club events limited to not more than 8 clubs which do not form part of a series of events as in a league |
8 |
Swim Wales wish to clarify the position with regard to 8 year old swimmers with regard to competition opportunities.
The table above states clearly the type of meet in which 8 year old swimmers can compete.
For events restricted to members of one club, such as Club Championships, Time Trials etc, there is no minimum age.
Swim Wales Regional Development Meet, the minimum age is 8 years of age. This event is run in the form of a pentathlon, at 8 years the swimmers compete over 25 metres on Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle and a 100 metres Individual Medley. Clubs running Open Meets can also run this meet at Level 4, or run just the 8 year olds as an addition at Level 4.
Inter Club Meets. These meets, where a club invites several clubs to compete in a one off gala, also allow swimmers of 8 years of age to compete. These meets DO NOT require a license.
We would therefore encourage clubs to include these meets as part of their competition programme, in order to ensure that swimmers can gain early appropriate experience in the competitive environment.
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