Parent s Guide to Swimming Galas

Parent s Guide to Swimming Galas 1. Introduction As we are an ASA affiliated competitive swimming club, we expect most swimmers to compete regularly. There are many different levels of competition, which when you are new to the club or first reach the magic age (in swimming) of 9 can all seem quite confusing. So this guide is designed to explain as much as possible, however do ask if you are not sure about anything. Most children s introduction to galas is through schools, entering events such as the Richmond Borough Primary Schools Gala or IAPS. Although these galas are usually run using ASA officials they are unlicensed and these times cannot be used in other galas as official times. As a competitive club, we may go to the occasional unlicensed event such as some Junior League Galas or hold internal time trials, but the vast majority of the galas we go to are licensed by the ASA as either a Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4 Meet. All times recorded in a licensed meet will be shown in the National Rankings database (which is open to everyone to see the links are on the Useful Links section under Galas on the website). You can look at your child s individual times https://swimmingresults.org/biogs/ or their ranking https://www.swimmingresults.org/12months/ Licensed times are needed to prove a time for entry into a certain Meet. This is particularly important for qualification into Regional or National Events where qualification can only be achieved at certain Levels of Meet e.g. for Regional events only times at Levels 1, 2 or 3 Meets are acceptable. Level 4 Meets are intended for either Novice events or Club Championships. These times are eligible for County qualification. Level 3 Meets require Upper limit times and qualifying times and can attract a wide spectrum of swimmers. The qualifying times can vary widely from times which are equivalent to County qualifying times to those which can enable inexperienced swimmers to compete. As these galas are for a wide range of swimmer they are usually open on a first come first served basis. A fast turnaround between initial email and entry is usually needed. Due to this entries cannot be accepted past our deadline. Level 3 meets are usually held in a short course (25m pool) although occasionally there are 50m level 3 meets. Level 1 and 2 Meets must have a minimum set of qualifying standards. No upper limit time is required. They are aimed at higher level swimmers such as National and Regional qualifiers and the better County Level swimmers. If these galas are oversubscribed, slower swimmers may be scratched, and therefore unable to swim. All Level 1 meets are held in a long course (50m) pool. Level 2 are 25m pool (short course). 2. Open meets Club Championships (Level 4) The club runs Club Championships at the end of September/early October. They are a must for any club swimmer and allow your child to swim competitively in a known environment. Also, if your child aspires to go to open meets and other external events, these are the competitions you should be going to first. The club advises you to enter as many events as you can or as your child wants. Don t be surprised if your child gets disqualified, it happens to all swimmers at some point. Mistakes like incorrect turns, incorrect leg kick or just falling in at the start of the race are an experience they are unlikely to repeat. If your child does get disqualified, always follow it up with the coaching team who will explain what has happened and how to correct the mistake next time. On the day of the championships, it is all hands on deck and parents are encouraged to volunteer even if it s marshalling children or serving drinks. The club needs your full support to run these events. Children are encouraged to go on pool side with 1

their team mates at the other side of the pool to their parents. This is because whips are attempting to get all kids into race order and if they aren t on the right side of the pool, the child might miss their slot. A drink and some clothes like a t-shirt and track suit bottoms will help keep the fluid levels up and muscles warm while your child is waiting for their race. The kids are also encouraged to cheer their friends on at the end of the pool, if they are not next in line for an event. The aim of these galas is to get a time for each event. The club records each time. The next time your child swims that event the aim is to improve the time and get a personal best (PB). Competitive swimming revolves around PB s and getting times to swim at open meets. Level 3 Open Meets For the novice swimmer the external galas you are most likely to attend are Level 3 meets. Look out for these on the club emails. Surrey County Championships The initial standard competitive swimmers seek to achieve. Times achieved at all licensed meets qualify for these championships which are held in a 25m pool. Times are short course (either achieved in a 25m pool or converted from long course (50m) times). These are usually held in January or February. Regionals Qualification - London Held later in the season (April and May), these championships take place in a 50m pool and qualifying times are faster than those for the counties. This is the minimum standard for swimmers in Performance 1. Times must be either achieved in a long course pool or converted from short course times. Nationals Held towards the end of the season (July/August) for those reaching the highest standards in the country. Milton Keynes Junior League The Milton Keynes Junior League (for swimmers aged 9 12) is a team competition in which Barnes Swimming Club takes part. Each cycle includes three rounds in a season and these take place in the south east region. Swimmers are selected to take part based on times achieved; usually we hold additional time trials for those without licensed times. 3. How to enter Galas We communicate all galas by email which always provide a link to the website. Alternatively you can look under the Galas to enter tab on the website. Under each new gala there is information to help you decide if it is relevant to your child. If in doubt please ask Roxana, Alberto or April for advice. At the top of the page is some information about the gala and various buttons which allow you to look at the qualifying times, conditions, links to the ASA data base etc. We store times from galas on our own internal admin database called Hytek. This is also used as an entry system for many galas (there are others too to make life complicated!). If the gala is a Hytek run gala, it is compatible with our system and we are able to run an eligibility report which shows which swimmers are have qualifying times for each event. Check if NT (No Time) Entries are allowed. If they are not allowed, the swimmer must have a licensed time. Occasionally galas, for example Woking Octopus in May, will allow you to enter with No Time or NT s. Host clubs will do random checks against the ASA database and will scratch you if you enter without a licensed time. This is the reason it is so important to swim in as many races as possible at the Club Championships to get licensed times so that your child is eligble to swim in competitive, licensed galas. If the gala is not a Hytek entry system gala, we won t be able to run an eligibility report and you may need to work out if your child s time is eligible. Usually this is straight forward and involves comparing your child s time to the time range given in the conditions using the ASA biog information. If there is a lower qualifying time the swimmer must have a time faster than this qualifying time. If there is an upper qualifying time the swimmer cannot have a time faster than this qualifying time. You will also need to note the age stipulations (we usually mention this in the information provided). Most Level 3 galas specify that the child s age is Age on the Day e.g. if it is age on 20 th March and you turn 11 on 19 th March, your age for the gala is 11. 2

For all galas county and above and for MK League galas, your swimming age is your age at the end of December. So if you go to Counties and you are 11 in December 2016 you are counted as an 11 year old even if Counties is in February 2016. The other complication may be if the gala is Long course (50m) and requests the times in LC but your times are SC (which are usually faster than the same distance LC due to the turns). This is less relevant for novice swimmers or Hytek galas where we can run an eligibility report however there is a website called Pullbuoy which allows you to do this http://www.pullbuoy.co.uk/times If in any doubt whether your child is eligible to swim please contact Sirje our competitions secretary competitions.bsc@gmail.com or April Below is a screen shot of a typical gala entry page. You need to read everything very carefully and once you decide you want to enter your swimmer, you need to complete your details. We request payment directly into the Club Gala account (see above for details) at the point of entry. It is essential that you stick to the club deadline or we will not be able to enter you. Many of these galas fill up very quickly and we have to submit our entries in time to ensure we can compete at the gala. 3

For the final part of the entry, the individual events are listed in programme order. Just click in the square for the events that your swimmer is eligible for and wants to enter and then press submit. You should get a Thank you for your application message, once you have submitted the entry. 4. Once an Entry has been Submitted The competitions secretary takes all the entries and manually inputs them into the Host Club gala entry file. She will usually email or post the meet entries back on the site just before the Host Club entry deadline. Check Meet Entries to ensure that your entry has been logged by the competition secretary. These entries will be submitted to the gala organiser unless you are advised otherwise. Once a deadline has closed and entries are submitted to the gala organiser, a list of these entries can be found on the gala page. The gala organiser will advise the competition secretary of accepted / rejected entries as soon as possible. Confirmed entries will be posted on the gala page. If a competitor has been scratched, the club will refund the gala entry fees. Prior to the gala, an email will be sent out, or information posted on the gala page to advise of warm up/session times and other important information including which coach will be attending the meet. It is, however, important to take responsibility for checking the website and the Gala Host s website for that particular gala to avoid missing any last minute information. Important information you need to ensure you know prior to the Gala: Warm Up / Session Start Times. 4

Coach / Team Manager contact details so they can be advised if a swimmer cannot attend or is delayed Withdrawal procedure there may be financial penalties if you don t notify the host club if you aren t coming Is there is a signing in procedure if so what time is the deadline for signing in? If a gala specifies that it is operates a sign in, they will take out any swimmer who hasn t signed in prior to the deadline. After the gala, times will be sent to the ASA Rankings and posted onto the Rankings Database and also uploaded onto our internal Hytek file. 5. At the gala What You Need to Know! Arrival In advance of the gala, check the Warm Up times, Session times and any deadline for signing in. Swimmers should be poolside ready for the warm up at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the warm up - even if they are in the last event of that session. Do not be late! If you will be delayed, advise the coach allocated to this meet. Swimmers can usually go straight into the changing rooms only parents and other spectators need to queue and pay. If wishing to take photos/videos poolside, ensure that the permission document has been signed when you enter the gala. Parking can often be a problem due to the pressure on spaces, especially if you are arriving for a later session. Allow time for parking delays if you are unfamiliar with the venue. Clothing All Barnes Swimmers should be wearing club hats and kit poolside and, where directed, on the way to/from the gala Swimmers need enough towels, dry change of clothing, especially during a 2 or 3 session gala as the day can be long! There are sometimes lockers available in the changing rooms where spare clothing/wet items can be stored - 1 or 20p coins may be needed for these. Swimmers should have footwear (e.g. flip-flops) on poolside as they won t be allowed to go into the public areas barefoot. Nutrition Food can sometimes be purchased at the venue but this is not guaranteed and where possible, ensure the swimmers have sufficient snacks, drinks and meals (e.g. pasta, sandwiches etc. if the gala stretches over more than one session). Sweets should be only provided for after the gala! Poolside Personnel There will always be at least one coach at the gala. Report to the coach/team manager on arrival poolside. Do not leave the pool area without telling the coach (or Team Manager if there is one). This is especially important to ensure that swimmers do not miss races. Parents should not ask children to leave poolside during the swim sessions. Inform the coach if the swimmer needs to withdraw from any (or all) races, and ensure the withdrawal procedure is followed. Swimmers should report back to the coach at the end of their race for feedback. Behaviour As a representative of the Barnes Swimming Club, swimmers behaviour should be of the highest standard at all times. Barnes swimmers sit together poolside. Stay in this area when not swimming. Cheer on your team-mates if possible during their races. 5

There is often a swim down pool available. Ensure this is used as directed it is not a play area. Awards Medals can often be collected on the day. Results are posted on the wall - or there is an awards desk check these when possible and collect your medal. If a swimmer is unable to collect a medal due to leaving early, ask someone to get it on their behalf if possible. Officials As a club we aim to recruit and train a number of officials who can then be available to help at the galas we run and attend as a club. Having qualified officials is crucial to swimming. Without them, meets cannot be licensed and swimmers' times will not be officially recognised. Additionally, it will often be a condition of the meets we enter as a club that we provide a certain number of officials. So by becoming qualified, you can directly help our swimmers. There are several grades of licensed officials, ranging from timekeeper through to referee. More information on the levels and requirements can be found on the ASA website. The training is a combination of theory and practical experience where you will be mentored by fully qualified officials. If you would like to join our existing team of officials, please email the club. It really does help the swimmers and is a rewarding way to spend a gala. 6. Glossary AGE AT: Recently most meets have moved to grouping swimmers according to their age at the end of the year, i.e. 31 December. This is in line with the major swimming competitions such as Nationals. However, some promoters still run their events according to your age on the day of the race AGE GROUP: Division of swimmers according to age, usually in one or two year bands ASA: Amateur Swimming Association, the governing body of British swimming ASA NUMBER: A unique reference number that you will be provided with when joining a swimming club and asked to provide when entering galas BACK UP TIME: The time given to a swimmer when they fail to stop the electronic timing by hitting the timing pad hard enough or the pad fails to record a time. The backup time is initiated by the time keeper pressing a button as soon as the swimmer finishes the race BAGCATS: British Age Group Categories are a point-based system operated by the ASA. Their objective is to encourage development across multiple strokes and distances for girls under 14 and boys under 15 and to discourage specialisation at too early a stage in a swimmer s career BLOCKS: The starting platforms which are located behind each lane BRITISH RANKINGS: this is a database maintained by British Swimming which records all times of all swimmers at licensed meets. You can see all your own PBs as well as looking at how you rank against others at County, Regional or National level CLOSING DATE: The last date when entries into a competition have to be received by the club in order to send them to the Meet Organiser. Entries will not be accepted after the closing date CONVERTED TIME: normally for meets you will be asked to provide either a LC or SC time (see below). For most (but not all) meets you are allowed to use a converted time which means using official conversion tables to switch times e.g. from a race swum in a 25m pool to an equivalent time for a 50m pool. NB 50m times are slower because of the lack of turns. Use the Pullbuoy website converter to help you work out your times. COURSE: The length of pool: Long Course (LC) = 50 metres / Short Course (SC) = 25 metres DNF: Did Not Finish - you will see this against the results of a swimmer who fails to complete a race DNS: Did Not Start - you will see this against the results of a swimmer who fails to start a race DQ: Disqualified - it happens! ELECTRONIC TIMING: A timing system that is operated electronically which normally has touch pads in the water that hook up to a computer and records the swimmers split and finish times when they touch the pad 6

ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE: The status of a member swimmer that means they are registered with the ASA and have met all the entry requirements ENTRY FEES: The amount per event a swimmer or relay is charged. This varies depending on the type of meet ENTRY LIMIT: Normally meets have a maximum number of swimmers they can accept for each race EVENT: A race FINA: Federation Internationale de National de Amateur, the international governing body of competitive swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming FALSE START: When a swimmer leaves the starting block or moves on the block before the starter has started the race. The swimmer will be disqualified for making a false start FAULTY START: When a swimmer or swimmers leave the starting block because of an error of an official or failure of the starting equipment HEAT DECLARED WINNER (HDW): open meets will normally be run on an HDW basis which means that only heats are swum, not heats and finals. Swimmers are put in heats according to entry time which means you get a mix of age groups swimming in the same heat. The winner is the swimmer in the relevant category, usually age, with the fastest time over all of the heats, not the winner of a particular heat. A headache for spectators wanting to know the result because you have to identify all the swimmers in a particular age category and note all their times before you know how well your swimmer has done (barring disqualifications)! HYTEK: you will see reference to Hytek on the website in various places and often in relation to competitions. It is an official database, maintained by the club, that records your times LICENSED MEET: in order for race times to be official and recognised by British Swimming, they must be swum at a licensed meet. There are four levels of meet with level 1 being the highest. The qualification for higher level meets will be harder and aimed at higher level swimmers MEET MOBILE: a useful app that provides real time results at selected galas OT OFFICIAL TIME: The swimmers event time recorded to one hundredth of a second (.01) OFFICIALS: these are the people in white you see poolside at galas. They are all qualified and registered officials who are there to make sure that swimmers abide by the official rules. Open meets are dependent on having a certain number of officials to meet their license so if you want to support your swimmer this is a great way to get involved OPEN COMPETITION: Meet Competition which any qualified club, organisation, or individual may enter OVER THE TOP START: At some meets and galas for Front Crawl (Freestyle), Breaststroke and Butterfly races to save time the swimmers will remain in the water after their event until the next race starts. PERSONAL BEST (PB) - The best time a swimmer has done so far in each stroke and distance QUALIFICATION TIME (QT) - often the conditions of a meet will require you to have swum a minimum (and occasionally maximum) time at a licensed meet in order to qualify SIGN IN: most meets will require you to arrive by a certain time to sign in for your events. If you miss this you won't be able to swim WITHDRAWAL/SIGN OUT: some meets will have a withdrawal system rather than a sign in. This means you need to let the organisers know if you are NOT swimming - sometimes there are financial penalties for not advising them so keep on top of this! 7