Open Meets

An open meet is a swimming competition run by a licensed club where any individual swimmer from any club can enter. There are no team elements.

Entering an Open Meet:

Open meets are graded as Level 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on the qualifying standard chosen. Level 1 meets are the most "advanced" and will set the most demanding qualifying times. These meets may only be appropriate for higher level swimmers, competing at or aiming towards regional level. Level 3&4 open meets set qualifying times that are accessible to most swimmers. These minimum qualifying times help to limit entries and provided an appropriate competitive opportunity for each grade of swimmer. For all open meets you will need to enter as part of a club, most meet packs will be sent out to parents to allow swimmers to enter the most appropriate meet; if you are ever unsure on what events your child should be competing in always feel free to discuss with their coach. All swimmers will be able to see their licensed time online at British Swimming - (these may / will be different from PB's set on the club system as our system takes into account all events swum and not just licensed meets)

The host club applies to British Swimming for a licence to run the meet, which demonstrates that the club is capable of managing their hosting responsibilities and enables the times achieved by swimmers to be officially recognised. These times are loaded onto the British Swimming database weekly. Any registered swimmers can see their times on line by searching the rankings database. Go to www.britishswimming.org, and follow the steps from there. Swimmers need officially recognised times to be able to qualify for regional and national age group competitions, as well as the Somerset County Championships since 2016.

Why go to open meets?

Open meets are a great way to gain competitive experience as well officially recognised times. They are good fun too as swimmers get to travel to nearby venues with their friends, swim in different pools and often enjoy a well earned pizza together afterwards! Open meets use electronic timing systems so swimmers' times are displayed on a large screen for all to see immediately a race finishes. This helps to maintain interest for spectators too. The venues are typically better than your average pool too. There is usually a canteen supplying hot and cold food and drinks and good spectator facilities.

Interested in finding out more?

Coaches prefer to indicate meets that swimmers should be targeting. See the notice board or the Events Section of the site for upcoming meets and register your interest. If you have any questions, talk to your coach.