Poolside Chat - parents of competitive swimmers continued

[Glittertwins]

Getting a bit close to the end of the previous one!

Section 3f - reserve the right to adjust entries

Thanks.

It's handy to know these things because with para swimming you have to read the supplementary conditions too. Sometimes it's hard to work out what superceeds what!

Their rejections were shocking. But I think it was to do with the qualification times being too low for numbers of swimmers they could accept?

We had Autos and then consideration.

You know what that means and if you have to wait for confirmation based on entry numbers!

I know all regions do it differently and ours is particularly tough! But it seems odd in one region you can qualify at 11yo and in another you've barely got a chance unless you're 15+.

Yeah sorry I just referred to NERs as it’s the same conditions as winter champs - as in QTs dont guarantee you a place and you can get scratched regardless. If numbers at winters are too high (possible as times are a little lower this year) then it could happen, as PP mentioned

Scottish competitions (where they use this system) is usually QTs are guaranteed, CTs then accepted to fill up the places. Otherwise it’s CTs only, so everyone knows where they stand.

Widow I wasn't picking fault. Sorry it if came across like that
I was just fascinated by a very long thread on SM regards NER and when I read it I was surprised to find it was swimmers 11-14 mainly - whereas in SE to get into winter regionals at that age you really need to have been winning nationals medals in that event.

I'm still learning and don't always know about AB swimming rules because ds is para. But I'm beginning to form an opinion about how different the regions are and whether that's a good or bad thing.

@itsgettingweird yes the North East has Age Group Regionals for 11 to 14 year olds and Open Regionals for everyone else. For the short course regionalsnin November they are held at the same time in the same venue as Ponds Forge can split into 2 x 25m pools. Makes fkr a very busy weekend though.

The problem this year seems to be that 14 year old girls used to be in the Open section but this year are in the age group section so suddenly the age group pool is far too oversubscribed hence a lot of rejections.

It's run so differently to our winter regionals.

We have 1 auto time for all ages and 1 consideration time. Set number of swimmers depending on distance.

The comp is age and youth but everybody has the same qualifying time regardless of age.

And they are tough!

We don't even have a separate qualifying time for our winter regionals. All or nothing!

It does seem illogical that all the regions are a bit different, it would surely make sense if they lined up with winter nationals and all had times for the two age groups, with the same age cut off for juniors too - our region has 2 times, but the junior age is 15

It is utterly illogical. Bit like having separate ‘offices’ for regions where all the staff wfh. Utilising money that could be spent more effectively on the sport. Our regional lot are an utter shower frankly.

Agree. Especially as regionals are a stepping stone to nationals

Not sure if Swim England have ever done anything logical lately

Good luck to all those racing winter regionals this weekend.

Can't wait to hear how everyone's got on.

Going from bad to worse here. Looks dreadful in the pool

@Glittertwins oh no!

DS has swam 1 race and got 1 little PB so far, just 1 more race today then 3 tomorrow. I think the fact he is not really in contention for any medals makes the whole thing a lot less stressful for us than some parents are finding it.

Got a PB last night but totally off it today. Oh well

Well done to him and good luck for tomorrow

Oh no!

Ds didn't look on form either when he swam. It was only a 50m free and 0.3 outside his pb. So hoping when he swims well he'll pb next time 🤣

Well done hello DS. Keep up the good work.

It's organised chaos as well as usual!

Medals for 1/2/3 in junior (under 16) and senior. Only 1 final per event - fastest 8. So you can't get results until finals are swam if only 1 or 2 juniors in it!

And then the paras are just totally forgotten about and they wait hours for their results too. Mind you I'm sure it so t be as bad as counties where they waited 6 weeks for their medals 🙄

Sorry to hear things haven’t been going well for your two @Glittertwins and @itsgettingweird and well done to yours @Hellocatshome

Mine just has one race tomorrow, I’m nervous for him as it’s very all or nothing when you just have one event! He’s been swimming really well generally recently and should certainly be capable of an SC pb (he’s entered on a LC conversion), but I fear he’ll overthink it and end up disappointed with it

That sounds a real mess! Surely better to have two finals. And that’s awful he had to wait so long for his counties medals, why couldn’t they do it on the day?

He didn't get his counties medals in the end. They told him someone had collected it and he just couldn't be bothered to fight!

The reason it took so long is because they swam the paras in age and youth but it's an open competition so the age swimmers had to wait until youth had competed. Then they waited 6 weeks for medals after they'd sorted it.

It gets worse for paras each year lately around here. Luckily ds is more more com earned about the times (although that didn't work out for him today 🤦‍♀️🤣)

We've just started watching the rest of session on you tube now we are home and they did announce the results.

Ds won gold 🥳