A Guide to Open Meets - 1. Before the event

Open Meets are open to full members who meet the relevant age and time qualifications; entry fees are payable by the swimmer. Each swimmer competes for him or herself for medals, ribbons and improved times, and our top swimmers for each event and age group earn points for Woking towards a Top Club trophy. The Club attends various Open Meets throughout the year, at different levels.

Licensing/Grading system

The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) licenses meets at levels 1(highest) to 4 (lowest). A Level 1 meet will have minimum qualifying times and is broadly aimed at swimmers aiming for National Qualifying Times (NQTs). Level 2 meets have minimum qualifying times and upper limit times; these are aimed at those looking for District and good County qualifying times (QTs). Level 3 meets typically have upper limit QTs (swimmers may not enter if their times are faster than the specified QTs) and are aimed at County and Club swimmers. Level 4 meets may have QTs in the same way as Level 3 meets, but they have more freedom in terms of using electronic timing and qualified officials.

Woking SC enters meets at all levels so that all our swimmers have a chance to compete at the right level for them. Please check the website regularly at http://www.wokingsc.co.uk/EntryForms.htm

Coaches will advise swimmers of suitable meets. If you have not been given details of a meet which you would like to enter then speak to your coach, who will help you decide if it is suitable for you.

Entry Procedure

The procedure for entry is the same for all meets.

• Check the information on the website to 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 early starts and mean long days.
• Fill out the entry form in full (see below)
• Sign the entry form and return it, with a cheque for the relevant amount made payable to “Woking Swimming Club”, to your coach, by the closing date.
• I then collate all the entries and send the information to the club hosting the meet.
• Once entries have closed, the host club decides which entries to accept and sends details back to me. In most cases there are entry cards, which detail the event, submitted time and personal details.
• I check through the cards and send them out to the swimmers via the coaches. If there are no cards then I will detail the relevant information on a slip of paper for each swimmer.
• If there are any rejections then details of any refunds available will also be given. You can choose to carry any refunds forward to future entries, or have the money refunded, or you can donate it to the Club to help with the additional costs which are not covered by individual entry fees.

Filling out the entry form

In most cases we use the standard WSC form. You must fill out all the information requested as otherwise it can cause delays in processing and in sending in the completed forms.

In some cases there is a different form to fill out, but the same principles apply.
You must put the swimmer’s ASA number on the form. This is a wholly numeric reference (ie 123456), and is shown on the ASA registration card which all swimmers should have been given. The number will not alter from year to year so please keep the card in a safe place. ASA numbers based on the old format are not accepted, and your registration number is not your date of birth.

Please ensure you only enter events which are allowed for your age, and put down your personal best times (PBs) in the box provided. You will all have a record of PBs from the Club Championships which you need to update whenever your time is improved. Please can you ensure that you have a correct record of PBs, as I do not have this information and it takes up a lot of time for all incomplete forms I receive. In addition, PBs must include the full time, down to hundredths of a second (for example 3.02.45) and not just to the nearest whole second or tenth of a second.

Other Points

In the past I have accepted some entries even though the closing date has passed. With immediate effect I shall no longer be able to accept entries after the WSC specified closing date. The WSC closing date is always earlier than the organisers’ closing date, and is set to enable me to process all the information and return it to the meet organisers in time; if entries are late then the date may be missed and all Woking entries would be rejected.

Some meets operate on a first come, first served entry basis, and in these cases entries need to be in well in advance of the organisers’ stated closing date. For example, our entries for Cranleigh A Open Meet in June arrived at Cranleigh a week before their closing date; had they been two days later, the meet would have been full and all our entries would have been rejected, even though still received before the official closing date.

That is why the date for return of forms is set as early as is necessary.

Hilary Dickenson
Open Meet Secretary openmeets@wokingsc.co.uk