🏆 What Is Club Champs? 🏆 

The Team Waveney Club Championships (Club Champs) is our very own in-house swimming competition, held once a year—usually in October—across an exciting weekend of racing, sometimes over two weekends- depending on how many events we can cram in.

It’s one of the biggest highlights in our club calendar and is open to every single Team Waveney swimmer—from our newest Academy members to our experienced seniors.

This is a members-only event—no other clubs involved—making it the perfect opportunity to try something new, push your limits, gain experience, and most of all, have fun in a friendly, supportive environment! With lots of people around you that you will know.  It’s also an opportunity for families and friends to come together and cheer on all of our swimmers.

Why Take Part? 

We encourage all swimmers to get involved, no matter your experience or ability. Whether you’ve just joined or you’ve been racing for years, Club Champs is for YOU.

It’s designed to promote participation, with a points-based system that rewards swimmers for entering multiple events.

• Maybe you're in Academy and want to try your first 50m Butterfly?
• Or maybe you're ready to take on the mighty 200m Fly?

It’s about challenging yourself, building confidence, and enjoying the sport alongside your teammates.

• You’ll be racing in a venue full of energy, colour and encouragement—alongside your friends and teammates.

💡How It Works💡

• Every race earns points based on finishing positions.
• The more events you enter, the more points you can rack up!
• All points are tallied across the weekends of racing to determine overall placings.
• Age groups for the meet are: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and over
• Competitors’ ages are calculated as at 31st December 2025.(so the age the swimmer will be by the end of the current year)
• Each age group is split into boy and girl

Points Allocation

There are no medals handed out at the days of racing. Instead, every swimmer earns points for each event. Points are awarded based on finishing place:

• 1st = 8 points
• 2nd = 7 points
• 3rd = 6 points
• 4th = 5 points
• 5th = 4 points
• 6th = 3 points
• 7th = 2 points
• 8th = 1 point

The more races you enter, the more points you can earn.

Race Format

Races are organised into heats — groups of swimmers who race the same event together.

Each heat is ‘seeded’ -Seeding means swimmers are placed into heats according to their entry times (the fastest official times they’ve previously achieved for that event). This groups swimmers of similar speed together, which makes races safer, fairer, and more enjoyable. If a swimmer doesn’t yet have an entry time — for example, if they’re new or haven’t swum that event before — they’ll be seeded by age instead.

Because of seeding, swimmers may share a heat with others of different ages or gender. However, when results are calculated, each swimmer is compared only with others in their own age group and sex.

Why it can be confusing for new parents/spectators:

When you watch a heat, it might look like your swimmer “won” because they touched the wall first. But that doesn’t always mean they have the fastest time overall. Other swimmers in the same age group or event may still be racing in later heats.

📝 Entries - How to Sign Up📝

You can enter online via:

• The SportsEngine app, or
• Your Team Waveney account on the website.

Here’s how-

1. Go to the Events & Jobs tab.
2. Select Events and Meet Entries.
3. Find the 1–5 Oct calendar entry: TWSC Club Champs.
4. Open the event—you’ll see all the details, attachments, and the Schedule of Events (what races are on each day and in what order). *****Please read this thoroughly.
5. With your swimmer, decide which events they’d like to enter from the ‘schedule of events’
6. Click the ‘Declare’ tab at the top.
   1. Select your swimmer(s).
   2. Click “Yes please” (or “No thanks” if not entering).
   3. For each chosen event, tick the box next to the race name.
7. Hit Apply—and you’re all signed up!

Please speak with your coach if you’re unsure which races to enter or email [email protected] you’re having any issues signing up

Never Done a Gala Before? No Problem!

You don’t need previous gala experience to take part in Club Champs.

It’s a safe, familiar environment with your regular coaches and fellow swimmers cheering you on. We also host novice galas throughout the year to help newer swimmers build confidence before the big event.

🎉 The Presentation Evening 🎉 

After the racing is over, we come together to celebrate in style at our Annual Presentation Evening. This year the event will be held on 📆 Friday 21st November at the Hotel Victoria in Lowestoft. This is a ticket only event - more details to follow soon on how and when tickets will be available ... get the date in your diary 📖

Think the oscars for swimming on a much smaller budget! Everyone loves the presentation evening. A chance for swimmers to get dressed up, let their hair down and have a party in great company. A great chance for families to get together and socalise outside of the pool environment.

What happens at the presentation evening?

• At the Club’s Annual Presentation Evening we start with the awards, we run through the results, trophies and awards are presented to the boy and girl in each age group with the highest total points. There’s a chance to get photo’s and celebrate.
• It’s not all about the points results there are also Special awards recognising swimmer achievements throughout the year- such as most improved swimmer   along with some other fun ones like the wooden spoon which is an funny one that celebrates some of the funny stories and new for this year a masters award. - For more information on our awards click here Club Champs Awards
• Once the presentations are over we have a good party !A fun-filled disco and dancing for swimmers, families, and coaches alike!

Participation medals

Every swimmer who takes part in Club Champs will recieve their very own participation medal which is unique each year. This just isn’t any medal- its a keepsake to treasure, celebrating that you were part of this years championships! Whether its your very first race or your tenth, this medal is a reminder of the fun, effort and memories you shared with your team amtes and swim family!

🦸Join our Heroes – Volunteering at Club Champs🦸‍♀️

These events take a huge amount of organisation behind the scenes, and we couldn’t do it without the help of our amazing volunteers. As they say—many hands make light work!

There are lots of different roles you can get involved in, such as:

• Entry table
• Cake stand
• Raffle sales
• Results runners
• Timekeeping
  …and more!

It’s a fantastic way to support your swimmers, meet new people, and be part of the community spirit that makes Team Waveney so special. We always love welcoming new faces on board, and your help really does make a difference.

If you’re already signed up as a volunteer and would like to let us know you’re available, please email [email protected].

If you’re not yet registered as a volunteer—don’t worry! We can quickly arrange a volunteer number through registration. Just email us, and we’ll get it sorted.

By helping out, you’ll be directly contributing to an event that’s all about participation, enjoyment, and celebrating our swimmers.