COMPETITIONS AND GUIDE
Upcoming meets:
Guide to entries:
For any athlete meeting the qualifying criteria for a certain competition, parents will automatically receive an invite and can declare their entries within their Active portal. However, it is not always appropriate for every swimmer to enter each meet – invites will be sent by chronological age and not by development age, so please read below for a guide to the differing levels of meets and whether it is appropriate for your child to enter.
For the majority of meets, swimmers will compete as ‘age on day’, so they will race against swimmers who have the same age as them on that particular day of competition. This can have advantages for some young swimmers if for example, they are 12 on the day of competition and so compete with other 12-year olds, but they may turn 13 the day after the competition. Then for a swimmer who has just turned 12 the day before the meet they will find themselves racing against athletes who are nearly a full year older!
The same however, can be mirrored across all age group competitions and irrespective of chronology – all children mature at different rates and biological age has a huge bearing on early success in sport. Just aim to enjoy learning to race, enter a variety of events and levels of competition; enjoy successes and enjoy racing tough competition as well; learning to win and lose and re configure your goals to make your next step forward is paramount. Most importantly therefore, focus on and enjoy your own personal development and do not compare yourself to others.