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Plan your competition schedule

Do you know when and where you will be competing this year? Our Masters Officer, Sharon Lock, looks at the benefits of thoroughly planning your competition schedule.

We are now well into 2015 and some organised and enthusiastic Masters will be planning the year ahead and looking at which competitions to enter.

This is often an essential task for parents who have to schedule their own swimming around league galas and county, regional or even national qualifying events for their children.

But it should also be seen as good preparation for all Masters swimmers who want to swim well at competitions.

It allows you and your coaches to see where you need to peak and helps to plan your training around your needs.

As we get older we can’t always train flat out all the time. Sometimes we need down time to recuperate or just concentrate on the non-swimming parts of our lives.

These competitions can also serve as a great motivator when the nights are cold and we don’t really want to leave our nice warm arm chair, or that episode of The Voice we’ve recorded.

Sometimes we need a healthy dose of panic at the thought of that next competition to make us put in a bit of extra effort in the training sessions.

It’s also not cheap to enter competitions so we should make the most of our opportunities and do everything we can to swim well and enjoy each meet. To make this happen I have one particular plea……..

Please check your ASA registration category!

One of the problems I keep facing is that Masters swimmers are registered as Category 1 swimmers, not Category 2 swimmers.

Category 1 will allow you to swim in low level meets but not the major meets of the year.

There’s nothing more disappointing than trying to enter an event electronically the day before the closing date and finding you can’t. By this point it is too late and you won’t be able to enter.

Check your membership

Go to membership checker and check all your details.

If you need to alter your basic information you can do this using the online membership services. It’s also worth checking your ‘data preferences’ to make sure your details are visible on the British Swimming website.

If not, again you won’t be able to enter events electronically. If you need to change category you should talk to your club administrator.

Please don’t get caught out. Have a good year and swim well whatever you do.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me sharon.lock@swimming.org

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