Swimming

 

For lots of information on swimming and why it is so good for you, head to Just Swim on the Swim England website to discover the secrets of healthy eating, check out videos of light exercises you can do in the pool and how to warm up and stretch effectively. There are also tips to help you relax and destress, and swim and gym exercises for the more adventurous.

New starters, adult learners, parents and children should check out Swim England's Learn to Swim Companion. The world-renowned Swim England Learn to Swim award scheme is based on the Learn to Swim Pathway, a programme developed to take children through from their first splash to full competence in the water.

• Click to find how your child can learn to swim with Swim England and to view frameworks.

Swim England has also produced information for parents

 

 

Institiute of Swimming Video: Abu Bakr has gone from lifeguard to swimming assistant.

Swim England operates comprehensive certification and education programmes for teachers and coaches. Somerset ASA bursaries support Clubs wishing to develop their workforce.

Following last year's inaugural event, tickets will go on sale for the Swim England Pathway Coach Conference 2022 which will be held on 25 Sep in Northampton. It is open to coaches from all aquatic disciplines. Further information will follow from Swim England Talent on how to book.

Applications to the Swim England Programmes below closed on 26 August 2022

Aspire Pathway Coach Programme 2022-2023
A unique coach development opportunity specifically aimed at coaches who are predominantly working with age-group and early youth level athletes within the Swim England Talent Pathways for Swimming, Para-Swimming, Diving, Water Polo and Artistic Swimming. This is an exciting and innovative 12-month coach learning journey comprising of workshops, immersive fieldwork and an opportunity to create cross sport communities of practice within our aquatics coaching family. View details.

Inspire Coach Mentoring programme for 2022-2023
A unique coach development opportunity for coaches who are predominantly working with age-group and early youth level athletes within the Swim England Talent Pathways for Swimming and Para Swimming. Each coach will be assigned a mentor from the Swim England National and Regional Coach Developer team who will work with the coach to provide bespoke, in situ support guided by the creation of an Individual Development plan. Read more.

The application stage of the Swim England Senior Swimming Coach programme opened on 11 June 2021 for submissions by 25 July 2021.

The Swim England Foundation Coach Conference 2021 took place virtually on Sun 25 April between 9.30am and 4.15pm and covered all aquatic disciplines. View programme and how to book.

The 2020 Regional Coaches Conference in partnership with the Swim England Talent Team was postponed due to Covid-19 and illness resulting in a large proportion of the delivery team being unable to attend. The Region is not planning to host a Pathway Conference within the Region in 2022.
 

Swim England has pioneered work on the UK Coaching Framework and is developing e-learning programmes, all of which are helping to drive up quality and ‘raise the bar’ to ensure Swim England has an appropriately skilled workforce for the whole swimming industry.

There are three levels of Swim England swimming coaching qualifications. Follow the three Coaching links below to find out more on the Institute of Swimming (IoS) website.

• Swim England Swimming Assistant (Coaching) Certificate
• Swim England Swimming Coach Certificate
• Swim England Senior Swimming Coach Certificate

 
View full specifications of all Swim England Qualifications.

Swim England launched a Coaching and Teaching Register in 2019 bringing benefits to clubs, coaches, teachers and participants. View details and action required.

Follow the menu link for coaching tips and advice from Swim England Talent coaching officers. Read articles and watch videos about the latest swimming coaching best advice.

Find out more about teaching swimming and coaching swimming on the Swim England website.

 

 

Volunteers and officials are the lifeblood of swimming and we are grateful to all who volunteer to help at our annual Championships and Development Meet. We will always need offers of help for most sessions to meet the requirements of the meet licence. If we do not have enough officials for a session, then any times achieved by the swimmers in that session cannot be submitted for the rankings

FINA / World Aquatics Swimming Rules 2023-2025 have been published but please note County Age Group Championships should be judged in their entirety under prevailing Swim England Laws, Regulations and Technical Rules of Swimming, WITHOUT reference to the revised 2023-25 FINA Technical Rules. View announcement.

More dates have been added (7, 10 & 14 March 2023) for south west officials to sign up for a World Aquatics Rules Update. Please don’t change your date and only sign up for one date via https://swim-meet.com/Availability/?m=1205. If you have any questions, please contact Jill Beard.

Also following the announcement in Dec 2022 regarding the updated guidance on minimum pool depths for racing entries, updated prompt cards have now been published for swimming officials and event organisers, effective 1 Jan 2023. View details and the key changes here.

Swim England has confirmed a change in technical officials training and uniform guidance. View announcement on 16 Oct 2022.

Events such as our 2022 Development Meet provided opportunities for your Club's Officials to gain practical experience and we issue calls to sign up for sessions they would like to support. Each and every contribution is valued and appreciated. The Meet simply cannot run without your help.

Please contact Chris Metcalfe, Swimming Officials Panel Secretary if you have any officiating queries.

Following the reintroduction of a level of competition across the home nations, the British Swimming SOG has published these deadlines for candidates to complete Judge 1 training.

Swim England South West Officials sent out a survey in Mar 2021 to gauge support needs and any potential training opportunities and also provide an insight into when its officials may look to return to officiating when competitions are able to restart. View a summary of responses.

Somerset candidates undergoing Referee, J2(S), J2 and J1 training receive mentoring support. Chris Metcalfe held a meeting of Referees on 5 May 2021 to discuss future mentoring / training activity.

Returning to Competition

Swim England published guidance was followed up with a webinar on 21 April to answer questions on how to plan and stage a meet / gala. View news item.

Discover more about volunteering in Somerset or becoming an official.

 

 

Swim England supports its Swim England affiliated Clubs and members through a national, regional and sub-regional structure.

It endeavours to ensure every athlete – whatever their age or level of experience – belongs to a club that provides the best possible support and environment through schemes such as SwimMark, Swim England’s 'Quality Mark' for clubs.

We publicised Membership Growth Projects, a Swim England funded programme designed to increase the number of club members. Any SwimMark accredited club section was eligible to apply for funding before applications closed on 18 Oct 2019.

Find out more about clubs and membership on the Swim England website and in our Club Directory.

 

 

Somerset organises County Championships and a Development Meet.

Somerset ASA County Championships

Our thanks go to all the Coaches, Team Managers, Meet Management Team, Officials and Volunteers who supported our competition at Millfield. The Meet Conditions and QTs are available to view for 2023, and 2022.

Please note when viewing 2022 results that some record holder dates, names and times on hy-tek print outs may have been shown incorrectly.

Somerset ASA Development Meet

The Development Meet is open to members of clubs affiliated to Somerset ASA who are eligible to compete and registered in accordance with Swim England laws and technical rules. All competitors must be Swim England Club Compete registered prior to submitting entries.

We are extremely grateful to our Meet team, Coaches, Team Managers, Officials, Volunteers and Parents for helping us deliver another successful Development Meet over 1/2 Oct at Millfield..

Sadly we were unable to hold our County Championships in Jan & Feb 2021 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Dates for future events will appear in our Calendar and entries are made via affiliated Clubs.
 

Swim England organises competition throughout England, from grassroots to elite level, including the highly successful National Age Group and Youth Championships which in pre-Covid times have attracted more than 1,600 young swimmers aged 11-17 each year.

Swim England Sport Operations Committee recognises the importance of a strong and consistent education to the young people involved in our sports. Unless agreed by SOC, Swim England Leadership Groups should avoid booking competitions for school time during the academic year and should, under no circumstances, book competitions during school time across the national exam season in the Summer. Affiliated associations are requested to adopt the same policy.

Without any racing since the start of the coronavirus lockdown as events were cancelled, Swim England launched a new virtual concept - Level X racing - which allowed swimmers to pit themselves against others from across the country without leaving their home pool. A second series of Level X Racing for Cat 2 members launched for under 18 members on 12 April when indoor pools reopened. The over 18’s / Masters edition opened on 17 May as per Government guidance following the roadmap out of lockdown. View announcement. Visit Level X racing archives for more information and FAQs.

Swim England's Swimming Leadership Group agreed that Level X would end at the conclusion of the current series, intention of confirming that there will be no further series whilst acknowledging the success of the format during 2020 and 2021.

Swim England's five-stage roadmap for a Return to Competition

Before the lockdown, clubs were functioning at Stage 3 (15 Oct-31 Dec or later) with training and Level X Racing the only permitted activity. Despite the removal of the restrictions in Stage 4 from 19 July, we are very aware of the continuing need to manage risk and offer activities that are as safe as possible at this time now that swimmers will have achieved race fitness. Stages 4a-c must be delivered successfully before progressing on to Stage 5, and progression through Stage 4 is as follows:

• Stage 4a – L4 competitions held within club training sessions only, with L4 licensing available one month prior to start.
• Stage 4b – Normal L4 single club competitions to take place, with L4 licensing available one month prior to start.
• Stage 4c – Trial multi-club activity of pilot L4 competitions with a limited number of clubs participating. Swim England will identify a small number of meet promoters who will be invited to apply for a licence.
• Stage 5 again anticipates social distancing still be in place, but Government guidelines will enable competition on a larger scale although permitted numbers remain smaller than normal. It is at this point that licensed L1-3 competitions will be introduced by Swim England, and include County / Regional Champs with National Championships, if possible, at season end.

Each stage of the Return to Competition roadmap could only take place when the national situation permitted and not before Swim England’s proposals had been signed off by the Government’s Digital, Media & Sport Committee.

On 26 Jan 2021, George Wood, Swim England Sport Development Director answered some of the most commonly asked questions from members on plans for a Return to Competition.

Following the announcement of outline plans for summer 'Festival of Swimming' along route back to competition unveiled by Swim England and British Swimming on 7 April 2021, Swim England South West has announced:

The Festival of Swimming - South West (Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire 50m) 2021

was held over 24 & 25 July 2021 at Millfield, Street and delivered and facilitated by Millfield and Team Bath AS. Licence number: 1SW210159. View news item. Ahead of a regional Zoom meeting, we had asked Somerset Clubs / members to share their views on a regional pool event in late July 2021 and regional open water event in Sepember 2021. Thank you for your feedback.

Find out how to get started in competitive swimming in England.

 

 

The English Talent programme is a world-leading, seamless pathway that puts in place performance opportunities for swimmers to develop their skills and potential and progress on to competing for British Swimming at major international competitions.

2022/23 Somerset County Pathway Programme

Opportunities for swimmers, coaches, team managers and parents / guardians. Read more and view the CDP web page with its linked age group pages for more information for swimmers and Home Club Coaches.

View Swim England Talent Pathway selection policy for 2021-22.

Selections to the Regional Swimming Development Programme 2023/24 are made in accordance with Swim England’s Talent Team’s selection policy. View key points.

Free Virtual Pathway Camp Opportunity
We publicised the event on Sat 5 June 2021 (9:30am to 2:45pm) which was part of the Regional Pathway Programme and open to any CAT 2 (now known as Club Compete) registered 12 yr old athlete (age at 31 Dec 2021). View details which included how to sign up.

Previous County Pathway Camps
Following the success of the pilot scheme of the County Pathway Programme in 2017, Somerset ASA had planned to deliver the Programme again in 2020 with the support of the Swim England Talent Team as it did in 2018 and 2019. View 2020 announcement. James Clarke (Millfield) was again our Lead Coach with Fiona Bowen Programme Lead. The parents meeting was held during our County Championships at Millfield on 8 February 2020. However the first two camps due to be held on 16 May and 4 July unfortunately had to be cancelled due to Covid-19 and we held just one camp online on 20 September 2020 (view report). Topics included lifestyle, nutrition and land training using a timetable and content produced by Swim England. Camp sessions have traditionally provided an opportunity for any coaches and team managers not on the team to observe FREE OF CHARGE.

Further to our request for 6 Skills Coaches and an Assistant Team Manager we announced the swimmers and coaching team who were selected for the 20 Sep online event..

The 2019 camps provided development opportunities for the top 36 swimmers who were aged 11 years as at 31 Dec, skills coaches and an assistant team manager. The team and swimmers selected for our 2019 camps (27 April, 20 July and 26 October) were led by James Clarke with Fiona Bowen, Programme Lead. James was supported by 6 x Skills Coaches and 2 Team Managers.

The camps are designed to be great learning environments for our coaches and to ensure that the current best practices are passed onto as many of our clubs as possible. We always strongly encourage your coaches and team managers to attend future camps if they possibly can. Keep an eye out for and share future Coach invitations within your Club and network.

View details of the 2019 parents' workshop held on 10 February and news of the first 2019 camp.

Team @SomersetASA Skills Coaches, deep in thought, during a ‘Construction of Sessions for Age Group Swimmers’ task, at the South West County Conference @SwimSouthWest @Swim_England pic.twitter.com/CEsePO989D

— Rachel Aldington (@RachelAldington) 17 March 2018

Read more on the Swim England English Talent pathway in the Teaching and Coaching section of the Swim England website.

View 2019 Regional presentations

• SW Parents & Guardians Workshop Presentations (pdf 1.5 Mb)
• Youth Physical Development Model (pdf 629 Kb)
• Talent Across the Ages (pdf 616.7 KB)
• Optimal Athlete Development Framework (pptx 6.3 MB)
• Swim England Planning Presentation 2019 (pptx 8.6 MB)
• Club Awards Sample Scheme of Work (pdf 321 KB)
• Growth & Development and Skill Acquisition (pptx 8.6 MB)
• Club Awards Progressions Spreadsheets (xlsx 14.2 KB)
• Club Awards Webinar January 2019 v2 (pptx 27.9Mb)
• Club Awards Regional Conferences 2019 (pptx 6.1 MB)

View 2018 Regional presentations

• Parents Talk
• The Youth Physical Development Model
• Nutrition

The objective of British Swimming’s Performance Pathway is to develop athletes that have the skills, characteristics and behaviours to thrive in the highest competitive arenas, specifically at the World Championships and Olympic Games. Login to your Off the Blocks account or if you're new to Off the Blocks, sign up to discover more!

Applications are open for the Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE) - Swimming until 12 July 2021.

 

 

Note: Swim England announced changes to licensing criteria on 4 Oct 2022 to help deaf athletes.

For applications, first confirm that your date does not clash with other events in the County. Please send the completed form to Regional Licencing Officer: Lesley Leffers (All Payments paid by BACS . Please do not send cheques. Your Levy fees and post meet fees can be paid by BACS to the following account:-
Bank - Lloyds Bank
Account Name - Swim England South West Limited
Sort Code - 30-98-97
Account No - 34605163
Please name payment as – Club and Level eg: Tigersharks L2
Please take a screen shot of the payment and send it to your Promoter who will email it to Lesley with the Licence application form, Referee Report form, Promoter Report form.

Useful documents:

• League Licensing Criteria
• Licensed Meet How to Guide (2022)
• Meet Permit Application Form
• Swim England Open Meet Licensing Criteria
• Licence Application Form
• Licensed Meet Application Form for Level 4 Single Club Meet
• Licensed Meet Promoter Report Form
• Licensed Meet Referee Report Form
• Open Meet Technical Officials Attendance Sheet
• Licensed Meet Officials' Requirements
• Swim England Regional Licensed Meet Co-ordinators