Competitions > Guide to Swimming

The Unofficial Guide to Swimming

Worcester Swimming Club

The unofficial guide to swimming - or what every new parent needs to know!!

What does PB mean?

A PB is a Personal Best time and is a better measure of achievement than where a swimmer finishes in a race.

Parents should keep a note of their child's times for future reference and to be able to show the child their progress. As the swimmer gets older, they should learn to keep their own times!

PB times are also recorded on the club's rankings list provided they have been achieved at properly timed events.

Rankings list

This is the official club record of swimmer's best times (over the last 12 months). It is usually updated several times a year and is used for gala team selection. A copy can be found on the website and the notice boards.

There is also a National Ranking List, and once your child is over 9 years of age and has competed in the Club Championships or any licenced Open Meet they will appear on it! So check out www.britishswimming.org to see where your child is in relation to others in their age group, within the County, Region and Nation!

Competitions

The Club enters swimmers in a variety of different competitions

One-off galas against say 4 or 5 other Clubs, with the winners often being presented with a trophy
Leagues, a series of galas against a much wider range of Clubs
County, Regional & National competitions - for which there are Qualifying Times
Open Meets

Most competitions are "Age on Day". This is simply the age of the swimmer on the day of the event - though for some competitions that span more than one date (Leagues, County Championships, etc) it will be the age of the swimmer on the last day's swimming.

Main Leagues

Nuneaton Junior League (for swimmers aged 9-12)

This is the premier team competition for junior (12 & under) swimmers in the West Midlands and if selected, swimmers should make every effort to be available. The Club always enters 2 teams in this League. Currently the A team are in division 1 and the B team are in Division 3. For B team swimmers, this is a chance to learn how to race in a less pressured environment. The B team usually have a lot of fun! For A team swimmers life is a bit more serious and competition is fierce! There are 3 rounds in April, May & June with Finals for the top 6 in each Division held in early September.

National Swimming League (for swimmers aged 11 and upwards)

This is the most important/prestigious League of all - a priority for all Clubs. Formerly the Speedo League (until 2008) it is divided into Regions and Worcester competes in the West Midlands Division One. There are 3 rounds in October, November & December - with the top teams from each Region going forward to a National Final the following year. The team will consist of the Club's highest performers and if selected, those swimmers should ensure they are available.

Mercian League (again for swimmers aged 11 upwards)

A fun but high standard league for swimmers who do not have Regional Qualifying Times, it takes place throughout the early summer.

PGL League (for swimmers aged 10-14)

This is largely aimed at giving Club swimmers who do not have County Qualifying Times a chance to compete for the club - and you can actually swim too fast in this league and get a Speeding Ticket!

County, Regional & National Championships

To enter into these competitions, you will first need to achieve Qualifying Times.

County times - these are the qualifying times required to swim in the County Championships in February/March each year, your chance to become the county champion! Times vary slightly each year and can be found on both our website and the County ASA website. Qualifying Times have to be achieved within the 9 months prior to the closing date for entries, usually early January, but can be achieved in any Club competition, Open Meet or Club time trial.

Regional Times - one step up from County Times and enable the swimmer to swim in the Midland Championships in May/June and November. Again Regional times have to be achieved in the 9 months prior to the closing date for entries - but can only be achieved in licenced meets i.e. not league galas or time trials. Details can be found on the Midland District ASA website.

National Times - for the very very few!! If you are at this standard, you probably won't need to be looking at this guide!

Please note that Lizzie Monkhouse is the current County Swimming Representative and therefore the contact for all County, Regional & National competitions. All entries for County, Regional or National Championships - plus any entries for Open Meets recommended by the Head Coach - must go through her please.

Open Meets

At most inter-club galas, a swimmer will be selected by the Coach to swim just a few specific races for the team e.g. 50m Freestyle. By contrast, at an Open Meet, the swimmer competes as an individual and can therefore choose to compete in whichever events they wish. Open Meets - which are "open" to swimmeHTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:46:41 GMT Server: Apache/1.3.41 X-Powered-By: PHP/5.2.6 Connection: close Transfer-Encoding: chunked Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 200 OK

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Please contact the server administrator, ="overflow:auto; max-height:500px;"> <div style="border-right: medium none; padding-right: 0cm; border-top: medium none; padding-left: 0cm; padding-bottom: 4pt; border-left: medium none; padding-top: 0cm; border-bottom: #4f81bd 1pt solid; mso-element: para-border-div;"> Worcester Swimming Club The unofficial guide to swimming - or what every new parent needs to know!!   What does PB mean? A PB is a Personal Best time and is a better measure of achievement than where a swimmer finishes in a race. Parents should keep a note of their child's times for future reference and to be able to show the child their progress.  As the swimmer gets older, they should learn to keep their own times! PB times are also recorded on the club's rankings list provided they have been achieved at properly timed events.   <h1>Rankings list</h1> This is the official club record of swimmer's best times (over the last 12 months). It is usually updated several times a year and is used for gala team selection. A copy can be found on the website and the notice boards. There is also a National Ranking List, and once your child is over 9 years of age and has competed in the Club Championships or any licenced Open Meet they will appear on it!  So check out <a href="http://www.britishswimming.org/">www.britishswimming.org</a> to see where your child is in relation to others in their age group, within the County, Region and Nation!   <h1>Competitions</h1> The Club enters swimmers in a variety of different competitions <ul> <li>One-off galas against say 4 or 5 other Clubs, with the winners often being presented with a trophy</li> <li>Leagues, a series of galas against a much wider range of Clubs</li> <li>County, Regional & National competitions - for which there are Qualifying Times</li> <li>Open Meets</li> </ul> Most competitions are "Age on Day".  This is simply the age of the swimmer on the day of the event - though for some competitions that span more than one date (Leagues, County Championships, etc) it will be the age of the swimmer on the last day's swimming. <h2>Main Leagues</h2> <h3>Nuneaton Junior League (for swimmers aged 9-12)</h3> This is the premier team competition for junior (12 & under) swimmers in the West Midlands and if selected, swimmers should make every effort to be available.  The Club always enters 2 teams in this League.  Currently the A team are in division 1 and the B team are in Division 3. For B team swimmers, this is a chance to learn how to race in a less pressured environment. The B team usually have a lot of fun! For A team swimmers life is a bit more serious and competition is fierce!  There are 3 rounds in April, May & June with Finals for the top 6 in each Division held in early September. National Swimming League (for swimmers aged 11 and upwards) This is the most important/prestigious League of all - a priority for all Clubs.  Formerly the Speedo League (until 2008) it is divided into Regions and Worcester competes in the West Midlands Division One.  There are 3 rounds in October, November & December - with the top teams from each Region going forward to a National Final the following year.  The team will consist of the Club's highest performers and if selected, those swimmers should ensure they are available. <h3>Mercian League (again for swimmers aged 11 upwards)</h3> A fun but high standard league for swimmers who do not have Regional Qualifying Times, it takes place throughout the early summer. <h3>PGL League (for swimmers aged 10-14)</h3> This is largely aimed at giving Club swimmers who do not have County Qualifying Times a chance to compete for the club - and you can actually swim too fast in this league and get a Speeding Ticket! <h2>County, Regional & National Championships</h2> To enter into these competitions, you will first need to achieve Qualifying Times. County times - these are the qualifying times required to swim in the County Championships in February/March each year, your chance to become the county champion! Times vary slightly each year and can be found on both our website and the County ASA website. Qualifying Times have to be achieved within the 9 months prior to the closing date for entries, usually early January, but can be achieved in any Club competition, Open Meet or Club time trial. Regional Times - one step up from County Times and enable the swimmer to swim in the Midland Championships in May/June and November.  Again Regional times have to be achieved in the 9 months prior to the closing date for entries - but can only be achieved in licenced meets i.e. not league galas or time trials.  Details can be found on the Midland District ASA website. National Times - for the very very few!! If you are at this standard, you probably won't need to be looking at this guide! Please note that Lizzie Monkhouse is the current County Swimming Representative and therefore the contact for all County, Regional & National competitions.  All entries for County, Regional or National Championships - plus any entries for Open Meets recommended by the Head Coach - must go through her please. <h2>Open Meets</h2> At most inter-club galas, a swimmer will be selected by the Coach to swim just a few specific races for the team e.g. 50m Freestyle.  By contrast, at an Open Meet, the swimmer competes as an individual and can therefore choose to compete in whichever events they wish.  Open Meets - which are "open" to swimmeX-Powered-By and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

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