An Introduction to competitive swimming meets

Are You a Meet Host?

If you are a Meet Host from another swimming club holding a licensed open meet why not invite Erith & District Swimming Club?  Just e-mail all of the details including the electronic entry files (Sportsystems or Hy-Tek) to our Meet Manager via e-mail: [email protected]

What Are Meets?

These are competitions where Club swimmers enter individually using their previously achieved personal best time for each stroke and distance they wish to take part in.  The types of open meet vary according to the capability of the swimmers. Meets are run under the Swim England licensing system which consists of 4 levels that have been designed to broaden the range of competition available to swimmers.  Counties and Regions require swimmers to have achieved a qualifying time at a licensed meet to be eligible for their Championships.

Briefly the four categories are described as follows:

LICENSE LEVEL 1 & 2:
These are the highest grade of meet and must be held in a long course (50m pool) for level 1 and a short course (25m pool) for level 2. Swimmers must achieve strict, redefined qualifying times to be accepted into the meet.

LICENSE LEVEL 3:
License 3 meets can take place in long or short course pools and are designed to allow swimmers to achieve times for entry into County and Regional Championships. Meets must utilize upper time limits (swimmers cannot be faster than a certain time) and can optionally set lower time limits. 

LICENSE LEVEL 4:
These are intended for club swimmers and those beginning to enter individual open competitions. They allow athletes to achieve official times to progress to Level 3 meets or enter external competitions.There are generally no minimum qualifying time.

External Links

The following links are handy references for completing entry forms to meets:

http://www.swimmingresults.org/individualbest/ - to check a swimmer's best individual licensed times
http://www.swimmingresults.org/individualrankings/ - to check a swimmer's ranking in terms of licensed times in various strokes/distances at national, regional, county and club level
https://www.swimmingresults.org/membershipcheck/ - to check your Swim England Membership number here
https://www.swimmingresults.org/licensed_meets/ - to display a full list of available licensed meets