Competing with Us - Swimming Competitions Explained
Looking to join Hailsham Swimming Club but are unsure about the competitive side of swimming? This page gives an overview of Swim England Membership, entering competitions, and what to do on the day of a competition.
Swim England membership options
When you or your child joins Hailsham Swimming Club, alongside your club membership fees, you will also be required to pay annual Swim England Fees. These go towards the various sectors within Swim England (including Swim South East and Sussex Swimming). For those looking to train and compete with the club, there are two options for Swim England membership: club train and club compete. The membership option you choose will determine which competitions you or your child are allowed to enter. This is set out in the table below.
To get the most out of competitive swimming with Hailsham Swimming Club, we recommend that members choose the club compete Swim England membership option. The majority of competitions throughout the season will be Level 1 to 3 Licensed Meets and can only be entered with a Club Compete membership.
For more information on Swim England membership options, please click here.
Alternatively, if you have any queries please contact our Membership Secretary, Jeanette Simpson:
Entering open meets and other competitions
Once you or your child has joined Hailsham Swimming Club have paid the Swim England membership, you or your child will now be able to compete with the club across a range of competitions. How you enter is dependent on the competition, which is set out below:
Licensed Open Meets, including County, Regional, and National competitions
Licensed Open Meets (Level 1 to 4), including Club Championships and our annual Mike Pashler Invitational Meet, and County, Regional, and National level competitions are entered via the Team Unify Team Events page on our website. Access to this page will be granted once your club account is set up. This page is continually updated with competitions the club will be entering. Here you will be able to edit your commitment to the competition and choose the events you want to swim. There is no need to worry about remembering your times for each event as these are automatically added to the system upon joining the club.
For County, Regional, and National competitions, you will need to have achieved qualifying times before entering.
Team events, including Sussex League and Arena League
Team galas are subject to invitation by the Head Coach. The team will be selected in advance of either the Sussex League or Arena League season commencing. If you or your child is selected for these galas, there is an expectation that you or your child should be available to swim, so please try your best to attend. If you are selected and cannot attend, please inform the Head Coach or Membership Secretary as soon as possible.
Other competitions not on the system
Sometimes, you or your child may wish to enter a competition that is not listed on the Team Unify Team Events page on our website. Before doing so, please talk to the Head Coach or our Director of Swimming. Following this, enter the competition via the website it is listed on.
What to do on the day of a competition
Once you have entered events at competitions via the Team Unify events page before the closing date, the club will then get a list of accepted entries. Please check that your entries have been confirmed.
Further specific information from the event organisers may then be sent confirming information such as warm up times for sessions and other protocols and procedures. Please review these before travelling to the event.
Withdrawing from events in advance of or during a competition
Sometimes circumstances may change and you or your child may be unable to attend a competition due to injury, illness, or other personal reasons. If this is the case, please let the relevant Hailsham Coach or Team Manager know in advance if you or your child are not attending any so we can withdraw you. Ahead of any competition, a phone number for the Team Manager phone will be made available for you should you need to do this.
There also may be cirumstances where you or your child cannot swim individual events on the day, for example through late arrival to a competition or picking up an injury while swimming in an earlier event. In this case, please speak to the relevant Hailsham coach or Team Manager to ensure that you are withdrawn from the events you no longer wish to swim.
Arriving on the day
Make sure you arrive in good time, at least 15mins before the start of the warm up time of the session that you are swimming in. Make sure that you report to Hailsham Team Managers and coaches that will be poolside at the event, or waiting outside the facility if it is not yet open. This is important so we can confirm that you are swimming the events that you have entered.
At the event
Once you and/or your child has arrived at the event and has reported to team managers, children under the age of 18 are under the responsibility of the club. Once they finish their events and enter the changing rooms then they are their parents/guardian's responsibility. If swimmers are sitting with their parents in the spectator gallery, or going to see them for short periods of time during the event then please do be mindful of timings are when races will take place.
Each competition and session will have a dedicated warm-up for particular groups of swimmers. Please ensure you have checked the warm-up times, and be mindful of whether the lane you have chosen to swim in is running in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction. At most competions, sprint lanes will also become available at a certain time during the warm-up, allowing for dives and starts to be practiced. Please be mindful of which lanes these are and make sure to move lanes the lane you are swimming in becomes a sprint lane.
The races will start as soon as warm is finished. In the period before each race, an event number will be displayed in a visable area of the poolside and swimmers of that event will be required to enter an area where they are registered and placed into heat order (known as a 'whipping area'). Keep an eye on the event posting and make sure you head up when your event is called.
If you require any more information then please do speak to the club coaches or the club Gala Secretary, Craig Steenhoff.
