Competitions

There are a number of different levels of competition for swimmers. These start with internal club meets and progress to national and international events. Every meet we attend as a club will be targeted at specific squads and are selected by the club coaches to meet the needs of the swimmers in each squad. You can see the meets targeted for each squad detailed on the competition calendar which is updated at least once each term. You can use the calendar to plan ahead by checking which events each squad are planning to attend.

Swimmers / parents will be sent an invitation email around 4 weeks in advance of a competition. Contained within this email, there will usually be a link to access the meet information so that you can check the date, session times, location, event schedule and other relevant information for the meet. You are required to respond to this email by the date indicated to advise the entries secretary (entries@swimhearts.com) and your child’s coach whether your child would like to be entered for the competition. Once you have responded, your child’s coach will decide the appropriate events for your child to swim. If your child is only available one session, or only for one day of a 2 day meet, please indicate this in your response. If you would like to limit the number of events to be entered due to cost or other reasons, please also make this clear in your initial response.

The entries secretary will submit all entries for the club together with a payment for the total cost of all events entered for all swimmers. About a week later the host club will send a draft program showing which swimmers have been accepted for each event and if the meet is oversubscribed which swimmers are reserves or are oversubscribed. The entries secretary then prepares a report showing the status of swims and total cost for each swimmer.

The week before the meet the Head Coach or Entries Secretary will send an email with further details about the meet – confirmation of venue, time to turn up, which coaches will be there to supervise etc.

Entry Fee Summary

The club pays all meet entry fees in advance, at the time entries are submitted. Once the club has made the entries on your swimmers behalf, you are then liable for the entry fees, regardless of whether your swimmer subsequently withdraws for any reason. If a swimmer is unable to attend through illness or injury, the club MAY be able to apply for a refund if you are able to provide a doctor’s note. However, this is not guaranteed and is entirely at the discretion of the meet organizer.

After the Gala we are given a refund for oversubscribed and non-swimming reserves. As such, and to avoid as much internal admin as possible when we receive the entry summary from the host club, we will only charge once all swims are accepted.  All meet fees will be charged via Team Unify to your account.