Introduction
Being involved in competitive swimming will be an unfamiliar process for many families with younger swimmers just starting out.
There are things you need to understand about what is expected; what sort of competitions you should be entering and at what stage; how to enter the leagues the Club enters, and what you should make sure you have with you on the day of a competition.
Don’t worry if you don’t pick up all this straight away, some of it will only become more relevant to you as your child progresses through the squads and achieves faster times.
Much of this information is already on the Swim England website and is also explained by coaches on poolside. This guide will try and pull together a lot of that information in to one place here.
The most important thing for swimmers and their families to grasp is that it is vital to meet your training attendance targets which will vary depending on your child’s squad, age, ability, (physical and mental development) and will vary between 2 and 6/7 sessions per week, and to also compete and get times in a variety of events. Hopefully the following will explain why.