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Interested in learning more about how to enter galas? Discover everything you need to know about participating in competitive swimming events with Carmarthen Swimming Club. Hopefully you can find the answer to those tricky questions that new and old parents have about galas and which ones to enter...

Understanding the Gala Process

Competing in galas is an exciting opportunity for swimmers to showcase their skills and progress. Learn about the different types of galas, entry requirements, and the registration process to make the most of your competitive swimming journey. 

The Competitive Meet
The competitive aspect of swimming, the meet, can seem like a daunting and confusing prospect for those new swimmers & parents. However, once you’ve experienced a couple you will quickly get into the swing of things, and there is always help at hand. Your coach is the definitive point of reference for matters relating to meets, and, as with every other aspect of the club’s activities, there are plenty of people who have been involved in competitive swimming for many years who will be happy to advise you. JUST ASK!

Competition Types
Competitions are either open i.e. open to all or closed competitions which is for selected clubs. They can be Short Course (SC) - a 25m pool
or Long Course (LC) – a 50m pool. For the majority of competitions, the club attends and stays together as a team, but the swimmers will be competing as individuals against other individuals. Usually the top three positions in events receive an award.

Why different meet levels?
Level 1 meets (50m pool) & Level 2 meets (25m pool) will have minimum qualifying times and is broadly aimed at swimmers aiming for National
Qualifying Times (NQTs). Level 3 meets typically have upper cut off times (swimmers may not enter if their times are faster than the specified UCT) aimed at Regional and Club swimmers, but also certain meets designed to encourage swimmers with no times and who are
starting out in their swimming career.

Preparing for Success

What does QT, CT, UCT, NT all mean?
Qualifying Time (QT) - the time that must be achieved to enter the event in a gala. If the gala has Consideration Times (CT) these are usually
slower than the QT. Swimmers may enter the gala. The meet entry will firstly be selected from the swimmers who have achieved the QT for an event. Only if there are then places available will swimmers with a CT be entered to the event. EG | 3 swimmers who are 13 on the date of the
gala: 
Swimmer A has a PB for 100 Freestyle of 1:04.05
Swimmer B has a PB for 100 Freestyle of 1:10.21
Swimmer C has a PB for 100 Freestyle of 1:15.85
If in a gala pack for 100 Freestyle the Qualifying Time (QT) is 1:07.23 for 13 year olds but the organisers have also set a Consideration Time (CT)
of 1:11.05 then swimmers A & B above can enter but swimmer C may not as they have achieved neither the QT or the CT. Swimmer B may have his entry accepted to the gala but only after all those swimmers who have entered the event with a QT have been given places. Upper Cut Off times (UCT) are usually found in level 3 galas. Where UCTs are published swimmers may enter where their PB for the event is equal to
or slower than the published UCT. If their time is faster than the UCT the entry will not be accepted. Galas which permit No Times (NTs) are the first step in competitive swimming for new entrants. These are usually Level 3 meets and will allow entries for swimmers who do not have any qualifying times, there are also usually UCTs associated with NT galas.

 Gala Entry Procedure is the same for all meets.
Your swimportal will have meet packs listed. Ensure that the meet is suitable and that you do not have any other commitments on the relevant day(s).  Decide which events you would like to enter. Bear
in mind that entering too many events will be very tiring and may mean you do not swim at your best. If in doubt ask your coach who will be happy to advise you. Open Meets often have an early start and mean long days.
COMPLETE YOUR ENTRY VIA THE SWIM PORTAL, your payment will then automatically be taken for your entries! We collate all the entries and send the information electronically to the club hosting the meet.
Once entries have closed, the host club decides which entries to accept and sends details back to us along with session times & on the day info.

Time Conversions
Some meets require times achieved in a 25m (short course) pool and others in a 50m (long course) pool. 

Age Groups

Most competitions will organise swimmers into age groups for awards. Sometimes these are single year age groups, sometimes double, with awards presented for the top swimmers in each event in each age group. Heats can be spearheaded according to entry time, irrespective of age.
Nationals & Regional competitions have age as of 1 December. Other galas can do this as well or run on a system called “Age on Day”, which means that the age group a swimmer enters is their age on the final day of competition. If a competition runs over several weekends, then the age is on the last day of the whole competition. In addition to individual age groups, competitions may also be split into; Age is up to 14 for girls and boys. Youth is from these ages to 17 for females and 18 for males. Senior is all ages above these.

Meet Programmes are available for sale at the venue or can be down loaded (you will receive an email from the fixtures secretary if you need to download programme) , listing all swimmers in each event in order of seed time, and providing general information about the event. They are very useful if only to work out when your child is likely to be swimming and schedule comfort breaks and trips to the café accordingly!

RESULTS
There is usually some form of electronic timing in use at meets. Timekeepers provide backup in the event that the system is not operating. The results of each race will be shown on the display board, but they have to be ratified by the referee and declared so by the announcer before they are deemed “official”. There may be disqualifications for the infringement of technical or stroke rules, or the electronic timing may not have been operating correctly (e.g. a swimmer may not have touched the pad hard enough to trigger it) Official results are usually posted on the walls after
the events and are often available on the host club/organisation’s website via Meet Mobile. We also post the results on our Team App page once received after the meet concludes.

NATIONAL RANKINGS

All the results from licensed meets are forwarded to British Swimming which maintains the National Rankings Database. This can be accessed on the British Swimming website via our link.

https://www.britishswimming.org/rankings-records-results/results/swimming-results/

https://www.swimmingresults.org/

GALA NUTRITION

Diet on a day to day basis can play a huge part of your performance within training and it is important to fuel your body correctly to maintain good
performance levels throughout the competition. Everyone needs to ensure that their water intake is plentiful. Ensuring you are hydrated can make a massive difference to how you train and perform. This can only help you to improve and keep training/performing at your best ability. A hydrated body will absorb the nutrients more effectively. If you are training/performing well without being fully hydrated and fuelling the body correctly, just imagine how well you could train and perform if you did provide your body with the correct water and nutrition intake. This is not an overnight change. You can eat as healthy as you want on competition day but if you are not supplying your body with the correct foods and water intake on a daily basis, then you will not train/perform to your full potential. 

Below is a list of food NOT to eat/drink at a competition:
Crisps; chocolate; cakes; sport energy sweets. Fatty foods such as Chips, Pizza, Burgers (you get the idea) Sugary drinks (Powerade, Lucozade,
Gatorade, fizzy drinks)

 

 

 

 

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