Affiliated to the ASA East Midland Region and Northants ASA
Open meets are competitions where swimmers compete against swimmers from other clubs in various parts of the county as well as each other, swimmers enter under the name of their club , i.e. Daventry Dolphins S.C.
At some of these meets a prize for top swimmer and top club is awarded, to win top club, points are awarded for all swimmers who make the finals. Medals are usually given to 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed swimmers in the finals, sometimes all finalists receive medals.
Swimmers will swim in a heat, times are then put together from the age group and the fastest 6 (or 8 depending on how many lanes the pool has) go on the final, (depending upon how many lanes the pool has).
You must swim as fast as you can in your heat to stand a chance of getting into the final.
There may be several heats in each event, and you may be seeded in a low heat, you could still make the final if you swim hard.
If you have HDW written on your card that means it is a heat declared winners event and no final will be swum.
Information will be given to the swimmers re: events, age groups, days and dates of the competition. Enter all events and just you’re favourite as you get older you will find that you’re strokes change and specialising in one event will not happen until you are much older.
Example:
Swimmers name: Belinda Smith DOB: 09/03/1990
Squad: Olympic ASA registration number: 1234
Your number will be on your ASA registration card. If you have not received your registration number, write “applied for”
Event numbers, event and your time:
1. 50m butterfly 45.36
6. 50m free 34.25
14. 50m backstroke 45.39
Amount: 3 events @ £2.00 = £6.00
Place cheques in an envelope payable to Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club.
The open meet secretary will write on the entry form who the cheque is payable to. (It is better to pay by cheque)
All local meets are own transport.
If the organisers of the meet receive a large amount of entries, the slowest competitors from some events will be rejected and your entry fee will be returned. Swimmers will then receive cards back from the organisers. Usually blue for the boys and pink for the girls.
Information on the cards will be:
Swimmers name, club, event and competitor number, entry time, session number, warm-up time, start time, and the most important of all, post cards by (time).
Before leaving home make sure you have your kit, 2 towels, 2 or 3 costumes/trunks, plenty of drink (very important) a couple pairs of goggles tightened ready to wear, snacks for poolside preferably not chocolate, on poolside you will need your Daventry Dolphins T-shirt, shorts and poolside shoes, AND YOUR CARDS.
Always arrive in plenty of time, to post your cards.
Boxes for cards are usually situated by the entrance to the pool or by the changing rooms, if you cannot find the, ASK someone.
If you forget to take your cards tell the organiser and you will be issued with cards, you will need to write them yourself.
What to do if you miss posting your cards?
Take your cards to your coach, who will take them to the organiser, (if the coach is busy they may ask you to do this). If the events have already been sorted out and there is a space in the first heat you will normally be offered that space.
If there are no spaces you will not be able to swim that event. If the event has not been sorted, your card will be placed in the correct order. This is all at the discretion of the organisers.
Get yourself changed and go onto the poolside. You will need to look for the Daventry coaching staff and the rest of the swimmers. Don’t worry just keep looking, you will find them eventually.
Report to the coach and tell him / her who you are, you must not leave poolside without informing your coach.
The coach will organise you for your warm-up and tell you when you swim is coming up. Keep an eye on what is going on and cheer all the Daventry swimmers during their swims.
The announcer will call your event usually 2 events before you swim; the coach will send you to a marshalling area.
Do not wander off or mess about, you need to pay attention to everything that is going on.
Your card will either have been given back to you before you enter the marshalling area or you may have to look for it on a table or filling trays. Don’t worry there will be adults in there marshalling you. If you are worried ASK!!!
Sometimes the coach will send experienced swimmers up with you to show you the ropes, don’t worry you’ll soon get the hang of it.
The marshals will then call your heat and send you to your blocks, your heat and lane number will be written on your card.
Once you are on the blocks nobody else matters, swim as fast as you possibly can, do not be tempted to look around.
Sometimes your swimming does not go as well as you expect, do not worry there is often a good reason for that, do not get upset, put that swim behind you and concentrate on the next one.
And remember…..ENJOY IT!!!