Being invited to compete at Club Team Galas and Open Meets can be confusing for first timer swimmers. To make this process easier we have outlined the key differences between the meets below:
What is the difference between a Club Team Gala/ league and an Open Meet?
Open Meets are open to all eligible swimmers to enter. They are run by other swimming clubs and are held in various locations. Swimmers/ Parents choose the events in which they wish to race (Coaches are always happy to advise) and pay a fee per event. Occasionally, if an event is very oversubscribed, entries are rejected but we don’t have any control over this.
As mentioned above, Open Meets are run at various levels: Please find the descriptions below:
Level 1 Meets are long course (50m) only and include National, Regional and County Championships. Their purpose is to enable athletes to achieve qualifying times for entry into National, Regional and County Championships. This is the top level of open meet available and qualifying times are fast. Level 1 meets are therefore most suited to County Squad Swimmers.
Level 2 Meets are short course (25m) only and cover National, Regional and County Championships. Their purpose is to enable athletes to achieve qualifying times for entry into National, Regional and County Championships in short course. Not many Open Meets are licensed at Level 2 and again, due to the faster qualifying times, these are most suited to our County Swimmers.
Level 3 Meets are long and short course events. Their purpose is to enable athletes to achieve times for entry into Regional and County Championships and other Meets at Level 1 or Level 2. MOST OPEN MEETS ARE LEVEL 3 MEETS. Most of the Opens entered by White Oak SC are level 3 meets and are suitable for most swimmers in Silver, Gold, Platinum and County Squads.
Level 4 Meets are entry level events in pools 25m or greater. Borough or Club Championships are an example. They are for inexperienced athletes and swimmers seeking to compete outside their club environment. If times are good athletes progress to Level 3 Meets.
Times swum at any licensed meet are automatically sent to the British Swimming database and are stored for rankings and can be used for entry into future open meets.
When the club advertises an open meet to its swimmers, parents can expect that a Coach and Team Managers will be present to support their swimmers. If parents wish to enter their child for an alternative or extra open meet independently of the club, there will not be a coach available at that meet.
If parents wish to ask any questions about this or the rationale behind the open meets we choose to enter as a club, please just ask the coaches, we are always around the pool and more than happy to discuss.
Gala Selection
This is completely different to Open Meet entry. Coaches select swimmers to represent the club in a competitive gala against other clubs.
The format of these galas is such that the team has a lane and can enter just one swimmer per event to gain points for the team (usually the fastest swimmer). With the exception of the Kent Junior League (for swimmers aged 10-13), age groups are always mixed. So for example although we have over 20 girls in the club in the 11/12 year age group, we can only realistically take 4 of them to any one gala. This is not to exclude swimmers, if we took all 20 eligible swimmers, 16 of them would just be standing around with no events to swim!
It is important to stress, that not being selected for one gala doesn’t mean the swimmer never will be! Swimmers develop at vastly different rates, and we strongly encourage swimmers to make the most of the opportunity to enter open meets and gain competitive experience and times to aid coaches in their future gala selections. Coaches are always looking at the swimmers in training, participation in open meets and development of skills to inform gala selection.
We are currently in 4 different leagues. See below the leagues and the coaches responsible for Selection:
Tudor League (Michael Hall)
Kent Junior League (Michael Hall)
White Horse League (Tony Smith)
Arena League (Tony Smith)
The Arena League, White Horse League and Kent Junior League would be classed as ‘A’ Team Galas, meaning that they are highly competitive, and usually the quickest swimmers are selected to gain the most points for the team.
The Tudor League Gala is more of a pre-county level competition. The fact that it is swum over 6 rounds means that there is some potential to rotate swimmers in and out of the team and give more swimmers a chance to compete. Not all clubs do this, it is after all a competitive gala, but we do, where possible pick swimmers who will not have the chance to compete in the other 3 leagues. Again, this doesn’t mean that we can take every single development level swimmer in the club to each gala as there simply aren’t enough races for them all!
If you wish to discuss gala selection, coaches are approachable and always happy to talk. We would much prefer that parents raise any issues with us as we are in the best position to advise and explain.