Open Meets

What is an Open Meet and how do they work?

An Open Meet is a swimming gala, open to swimmers outside the organising club, where swimmers represent their club as individuals, rather than a team. Most Opens award trophies to the top 3 or possibly 6 swimmers in each age group and stroke, though this does vary depending on the host club. Some also award top team trophies.

Arrangements to get to and from an Open will be made by the individual swimmer and the club will not necessarily provide a poolside coach to supervise the children, though in these cases registered parents will usually help out.

It is necessary for the swimmer to complete an entry form for the gala and this must be sent to the organising club BEFORE the closing date on the entry form. Usually the forms will be put together by Mark Hpa who will have also handed out the forms, but you must return your completed form to him by the date specified. To fund the trophies and race money for the organiser, there is an entry charge which will normally be per race. This will normally be payable to NPSC and given to Mark with the entry form. Should any entries be rejected this will be refunded.

For each race they enter, swimmers will have to submit their personal best time. This is used to "seed" the swimmers in races, which means placing swimmers with similar times together, regardless of age. Normally, the slowest swimmers go in the first heat and the fastest in the last heat for each event, which will probably be spearheaded, ie the fastest swimmer in the middle lane with the slower swimmers in the outer lanes. Many galas are graded and have "cut-off times" which may be "no faster than" or "no slower than". If you enter a race with either a too fast or too slow time, you are unlikely to be accepted.

If you are accepted, about 1 or 2 weeks before the gala you will receive your "Entry Cards", one fore each event, from Mark who will have received them from the organisers. These cards are usually blue for boys and pink for girls and give the submitted time, event and heat, warmup and start time and CARD POSTING TIME ... this is VERY IMPORTANT. The cards are important and they show you have been accepted to swim. You must take the cards with you to the Open. If you forget you must tell your coach or gala organisers BEFORE the "card posting time". You must do this to confirm you are swimming, otherwise the organisers will not allocate a lane to you. This is called the "Secondary Entry System". Cards are posted in the "Boxes", usually near the pool entrance and once these are "Closed" then no more entries are accepted and the lanes are allocated.

Then you go onto poolside, hopefully find the coach and when told to, start the warmup.

Generally 2 events before your event, all swimmers for that event will be called to the "Whipping Area" (no you don't get whipped to go faster!). This is where you will be given your entry card back, and this time there will be a heat and lane number marked on it. This is when and where you will swim. The officials giving out the cards will tell you when to go out for your heat.

The results will be posted on the wall around the pool a while after the event has finished. If you are lucky enough to win a medal or trophy, your coach or the organisers will tell you where to collect it from. You will nearly always keep the medals given out for the top places, but trophies may have to be returned.

Finally ... Open meets are great opportunities for meeting new swimmers and swimming in different pools, ofetn with a good audience. Take advantage of the excitement and swim hard for those PB's ... and above all - ENJOY YOURSELF !!!