A swimmer's first meet with Dartes is often a daunting experience. All at once you're faced with a huge and unfamiliar swimming pool complex, crowds of anxious swimmers and parents from all over the country, a long car journey, and an early morning start. To top it all off, you probably don't know many of your team mates either.

To help calm your nerves (and more importantly, those of your parents) and prepare you all for the day/weekend ahead, this document highlights everything you need to know to arrive in confidence.

Which competitions to enter

Refer to the Competition Calendar. The meets swimmers should attend depend on their age and ability to achieve the qualifying standard for the particular meet.

• 9-14yrs Boys and 9-13yrs girls are classed as Age Group.
• 15yrs+ Boys and 14yrs+ girls are classed as Youth/Senior.
• Competitions may run as age on day or age at end of year.

There are two different types of meet entry-time descriptions: qualifying times and cut off times.

• Qualifying times mean the swimmer must be faster than the noted times.
• Cut off times mean the swimmer must be no faster than the designated times.

Meets are also licensed at different levels. The level dictates the calibre of competitor expected to take part and the quality of officiating at that meet.

• Level 1 - Highest level, may be targeted at National level swimmers (Long course)
• Level 2 - Often targeted at Regional standard swimmers (Short course)
• Level 3 - Often targeted at County standard swimmers (Long/Short course)
• Level 4 - Dartes don't compete at level 4 meets

You should only ever do the meets found on our calendar that are marked as suitable for your squad. Don't be tempted to add in more of your own - too many meets is damaging for a young swimmer's development. Our calendar is planned to give you exactly what you need to excel.

Which events to enter at a competition

Over the course of each season, you should attempt to race every event at least once. It is important to keep a time on British Swimming's ranking system so that meet organisers can verify your entry time. Those times are no longer considered valid once 12 months has elapsed. The table below shows the events that should be performed annually. Although some events may seem daunting, and many won't be a young swimmer's favourite, under 16s should be competing in everything each season.

 

When entering a competition it is important to consider the demands on the athlete over the course of the day. Each session will begin with a warm up (1250m), and each race will be followed by a swim down (900m and about 20mins). Plan your entries to allow enough time to squeeze in those swim downs. The objective is to perform well in each event, not to squeeze in as much as possible. Overloading your weekend will achieve nothing more than exhaustion, poor performances, and frustration.

You should aim to race no more than 300m per session across 2 events, or a single 400m event. If racing the 800m or 1500m it's worth limiting yourself to only that race that day. Sometimes it may be necesssary to go slightly above that, in which case balance it in a later session by doing less. Always make sure there is enough time to swim down between races!

 

There are exceptions to those rules if the objective demands it. Setting "fast enough" times in multiple events to qualify for Championship finals for instance, or "posting any time" to the rankings database to allow entry to a meet later in the season. In the latter case, some would even swim an 800m followed by a 1500m at Animal Trials if they were confident of easily achieving a Yorkshire qualifying time in both. In general though, the rules above are what you should follow.

At the younger ages, focus should be on 200m upwards. Always try to include a 400m event across the weekend, and plan the rest of the weekend around 200m races. Any gaps left by that strategy are easily filled by 100m events. You will always find somewhere to squeeze in the 50m sprints regularly enough, but these should never be a priority.

 

Obviously everyone has their favourite events. It's a good idea to mix a prefered race with a weaker one to keep the athlete focused. A big PB is often the prize for competing in an event that hasn't been performed in a while, so those are good to include too.

Coach/Squad Manager

The Coach or Squad Manager will be able to offer guidance on which events to enter at each meet. If you already understand the process, and you're happy to plan your own entries without guidance, please do so. Your coach's time is obviously limited.

Submitting Entries

When the swimmer and parent is happy with the choices made (possibly in consultation with the coach) it's time to submit an entry form. Payment should be be made at the same time (cheques made payable to Doncaster DARTES). If an entry is made without payment it will NOT be accepted.

Withdrawrals

It is unfortunate, but sometimes circumstances dictate that a swimmer has to be withdrawn from a meet. If this situation happens, it is important that the Competition Secretary or a coach is informed prior to the meet. They will then advise you accordingly. Failure to do so may result in a fine to the club or parent responsible (depending on the particular competition).

Swimmers should be encouraged to swim every event they enter and should only be withdrawn after consultation with the coach. Only under special circumstances will swimmers be withdrawn from events!

Carded Meets

Carded meets are rare these days, but occasionally one pops up. At such meets, competitor cards must be handed in before warm up begins. Lane assignments are then made based on the cards handed in. It is very likely that failure to hand in a competitor card will result in no-swim!

Reserve Finalists

Swimmers who achieve reserve places in competition must inform coaching staff if they do not intend to wait for the final. A surprising number of finalists do withdraw so it's often worth waiting. Some meets fine clubs for reserve no-shows, so it is important to make your absence known.

Dartes Team Kit

Doncaster DARTES swimmers if choosing to wear a cap must wear a DARTES swimming cap. DARTES T-shirt or sweat shirt should also be worn at meets to make swimmers easily identifiable. There are also available kit bags, hoodies etc.

Dates and Location

• What the date of the meet is!
• The venue of the swim meet and available parking facilities.
• Where the coach and team members are going to meet and at what time?
• Who will be on pool side to guide swimmers through the day’s events?
• Check the time you are expected to be on pool side ready for warm up (Usually 15mins before warm up starts).

Preperation

Please make sure your child has all the following items with them in kit bags:

• 3 x Swimming trunks/costumes (changing into dry kit after the warm up is common)
• Indoor foot wear (clean trainers or flip-flops) must be worn.
• 2 x Goggles.
• 3 x towels. (important when competing in multiple sessions)
• 2 x DARTES swimming caps.
• 2 x DARTES polo shirts/ sweat shirts.
• Spare clothes. ALL CLOTHES and PERSONAL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE NAME TAGS ATTACHED and ARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE OWNER!
• It is essential swimmers have plenty of drinks available to them on pool side! Also they have plenty of food kept in cool lunch boxes on poolside. High carbohydrates/low fat snacks, pasta, sandwiches, a banana, dried fruit, oat/plain wholemeal biscuits, rice (NOT sweets and jellies). These are all examples of foods that release energy slowly.
• If the interval between races is only 30 minutes: The swimmer should drink only fluids/juice or a sport drink.
• If the interval between races is between 1 to 2 hours: The swimmer should have a small high carbohydrate/low fat meal.
• If the rest period between races is longer than 2hours: then the swimmer should have substantial meal but no less than 2 hours before the next race to allow digestion.
• Log books are required for swimmers to record the day’s events and results.

All swimmers must respect pool side rules

Inform team managers if you need to leave poolside for any reason during a session (toilet, etc). Parents/Guardians should encourage swimmers to remain on poolside rather than sitting in the spectator area as it is important to build a strong team atmosphere. Swimmers should also be encouraged to show support to other team mates during their races. Swimmers should always show high levels of good behaviour as representatives of Doncaster DARTES and be respectful to coaching staff/ team managers and meet officials.

Swimmers should

LISTEN to instructions from the coach, who is there to help you achieve your goals/targets.
TALK to the coach before going to the marshalling area, prior to the race.
PREPARE your muscles before the race; this will help reduce the chance of injury.
DISCUSS your performance with the coach after every race.

Remember to Swim Down!

A snack bar should be eaten as soon as possible after the race to start the process of replenishing the energy stores within the muscles. It is important to swim down after your race in order to reduce the levels of lactate that are in the muscles. A well structured correctly performed swim down should help the swimmer to maintain performance levels throughout the swim meet.

Once swim down is complete it is important that swimmers dry themselves thoroughly and wear dry clothing to keep the muscles warm. Now you need to have the appropriate drink and snack for the time available before your next race.

CHECK WHEN YOUR NEXT EVENT IS!

Parents must Remember

Parents should refrain from giving any technical feedback or performance criticism to their child; this is counter productive and it is the responsibility of the swimmer's qualified coach to deliver any guidance required on areas for improvement. It is important that swimmers experience no confusion as to who they should be listening to with regard to race performances. Praising your child for a good performance is always welcome.

Important Contacts

At least one of our coaches will be on pool deck at meets Dartes attends. Their contact details can be found in the contacts section of this website.

Doncaster DARTES wish all swimmers the very best. We hope that you enjoy the day’s events and learn a lot from the experience.

Thank you