Guide to Licensed Meets
Licensed Meets are swimming events licensed by Swim England. This means they have to meet certain standards to ensure fair competition. Each event your child enters will be licensed, as per the levels detailed below.
The English swimming licensed meets calendar contains a range of ‘open’ meets, designed to give all competitive swimmers in England the chance to achieve their true potential.
Guide to the four levels of licensed meets
All licensed meets are subject to Swim England Regulations and the Swim England Technical Rules of Racing. They are graded into four levels.
- Level 4 Meets are entry level events in pools 25m or greater. Borough Championships are an example. They are for inexperienced athletes and swimmers seeking to compete outside their club environment. If times are good athletes progress to Level 3 Meets.
- Level 3 Meets are long and short course events. Competitions suitable for most swimmers. They have upper limit times (not faster than). Their purpose is to enable athletes to achieve times for entry into Regional and County Championships and other Meets at Level 1 or Level 2.
- Level 2 Meets are short course (25m) only and cover National, Regional and County Championships. Competitions are for more experienced swimmers as you need qualifying times to enter. Their purpose is to enable athletes to achieve qualifying times for entry into National, Regional and County Championships in short course.
- Level 1 Meets are long course (50m) only and cover National, Regional and County Championships. Competitions for more experienced swimmers as you need qualifying times to enter. Their purpose is to enable athletes to achieve qualifying times for entry into National, Regional and County Championships.
