Swim England release new artistic swimming grading videos

Swim England has released a host of new artistic swimming grade videos to reflect the recent rule changes in the sport.

More than 100 videos have been uploaded to Swim England’s YouTube channel to show athletes, parents, coaches and clubs what skills are required to reach each grade.

Artistic swimmers often take part in grade days with their clubs where they showcase their ability to reach the next grade so that they can enter a higher level of competition.

And following the recent rule changes from World Aquatics, Swim England has updated its catalogue of videos to show each of the elements that make up the five levels of routine and figure grades.

It’s the next step of Swim England’s phased implementation of the new rules, that have been featured in international competitions throughout 2023.

The national governing body has already introduced the new coach card and has been trialling the new judging system ahead of a full roll-out of the rules across its competitions in 2024. A full implementation of the coach card will also continue next year.

These resources will allow for the new World Aquatics elements and figures to be incorporated into the national grading and competitive system ahead of the next calendar year.

Swim England will be hosting a number of seminars towards the end of the year to provide clubs and judges with the necessary guidance ahead of the changes for 2024. The dates and times for these will be announced in due course.

You can learn more about each of the artistic swimming grades here.

‘An incredibly important step’

Maria Ramos, chairperson of the Artistic Swimming Leadership Group (ASLG), is excited to embrace the changes to the sport.

She said: “I’m really excited to see the launch of this series of videos following the recent rule changes to the sport.

“These rule changes are the most significant in the history of artistic swimming and presents a great opportunity to grow the sport in this country.

“The new rules impact the way the sport is coached, judged and scored, so we want to make sure we have the resources available to embrace these changes.”

The videos were filmed at the High Performance Centre in Bristol with some of Great Britain’s top athletes demonstrating each of the elements.

They were filmed by the team at Will Johnston Photography whose footage was then shared to a number of the nation’s top judges to ensure of their accuracy.

And Sarah Clarke, athletes reward and recognition lead for the ASLG, says they provide the community with a clear understanding of how to reach each grade.

She added: “To launch these videos is an incredibly important step.

“It gives our athletes, coaches, clubs and the entire artistic swimming community a clear understanding of how to reach each grade and the standard required to get there.

“Thank you to our GB athletes, some of our top judges and everyone who has supported in the development of these videos and we hope they are a big help to everyone in the sport.”

You can find all the videos here.

If you have any queries about the grade updates, please contact the artistic swimming team at [email protected].