Who can swim in competitions and when?

This is not the simple question that it first appears to be, but there are some basic rules that almost always apply.   If you and your child are new to swimming and want to start entering competitions there are some things you will need to know.  I will try to keep this brief and cover the basics but please remember you are part of a swimming club that has a wealth of experience, if you are unsure ASK it’s what we’re here for.

Any member of Wellington Swimming Club can enter competition of some type; our club championship is open to ALL members.  Whilst time trials are not strictly a competition we run them like one, this gets children used to the procedures and involved and are therefore an excellent place to start.

Competition can really start once your child is 9 years old, your child will need to be equipped before entering Licensed competition , they will need:-

• Competitive Start Award – This is needed to dive from the starting blocks and can be obtained by attending ‘Starts and Turns’ sessions.  Without this your child MUST start from the water and will be at an instant disadvantage, the ‘Turns’ element of the program will also make sure your child knows what to do when they get to the other end of the pool.  Places on ‘Starts and Turns’ sessions are limited and MUST be booked in advance.
• Category 2 Membership – Wellington Swimming Club have to register ALL of its members with the asa, there are different types of membership depending on your activities within the club.  Competitive swimmers must be registered category 2 to ensure adequate insurance cover.  The club will automatically do this if your child’s first competition is entered through the club.
• Legal Swimwear - There have been recent changes to the regulations regarding competition swimwear, make sure you understand them or ASK.

Competition Types

There are basically 2 types of competition and they are Licensed and Unlicensed competitions.

• Licensed competitions are those where a portion of the entry cost is paid to the asa, times from these events are recorded by the asa and used for National Rankings. These events will generally have upper and lower limits on entry times, this stops slow swimmers entering fast events but more importantly stops faster swimmers entering slower events (some parents think it’s all about winning medals).
• Unlicensed competitions are not normally subject to the same entry criteria and generally involve friendly galas and club championships.  Times from these events are not recorded by the asa and are not used for ranking purposes.  These events may still have entry time criteria but they are normally much wider. These events are usually much more relaxed and offer less stress to new competitors.

Licensed competitions are ‘proper’ competition and include County, Regional and National Championships and most Open Meets (An Open Meet is a competition that is open to anyone from any club, clubs will often target these events)

Wellington Swimming Club have about six ‘Targeted’ Open Meets per year, we usually try to keep these local (Wolverhampton or Shrewsbury) but for higher level swimmers we may go as far afield as Sheffield for 50 metre pool times.  Provided your child can swim faster than the required entry time they are welcome to enter.  Normally we do not provide transport to Open Meets, but there are often other parents with spaces in their cars.

Wellington Swimming Club currently swim in the DIDDY and DEVA Leagues, last season we won our league at DEVA and have now been promoted to Division 1.  Swimmers for these events are selected by the team manager; if we need your child to swim we will let you know.  Transport is normally provided for these events.

If you need any information feel free to ask anyone on the Club Desk or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will do our best to answer your enquiry.

A good way to find out more is to get more involved with the running of the club, we often need people on pool side during competitions to help chaperone the swimmers or officiate (on the plus side you don’t have to pay to get in and you’ll normally get given a drink) but you will have to give up some time for training.