Tentative Meet Schedule – these are historical meets the club has attended. This list changes every year based on coach and team interest.
1. Kelowna Aquajet, Fall Classic, November
2. Kelowna Jamboree, November (Sunday afternoon after the Fall Classic)
3. Kamloops December
- Sub 4:00 min IM time standard for 200m and up
- No time standard for 50s and 100 meter
4. Kelowna Snowfest, January
- Sub 4:00 min IM time standard
- Friday am start (preliminaries and finals on Friday and Saturday)
5. KISU January Jamboree – January
- Open to all under the 200 IM time standard
- 25 meters and up – perfect for a first time meet or to achieve the 200 IM time.
- Registration deadline is January 13, 2020
6. KISU Draft Meet
- Time Standard is 4:00m 200 IM
- Must be competitive swimmer under SwimBC
- This meets puts swimmers into different teams based on 200 IM time.
- Registration deadline is January 30, 2020
7. AG Provincials Short Course – Feb
- SwimBC time standards
8. Regional A Championship – February 28th Salmon Arm
- No time standard but you cannot have a 2-3 BC Provincial time standard achieved
9. Swim BC Winter Provincials – March
- SwimBC time standards
10. VKSC Spring Meet – April Vernon, BC
- Meet Package
- Sub 4 minute IM time standard
11. Summerland Jamboree – May, Summerland
- Meet Package
- open to anyone without the Sub 4 minute time standards
12. KAJ Long Course Invitational – May, Kelowna BC
13. Cranbrook Tritons May, Cranbrook BC
- No time standard
- Team meet
14. TRU Invitational – May 29-31st, Kamloops BC
15. AG Provincials Long Course – June, TBD
- Meet Package
- Swim BC time standards
16. Summer Provincial Long Course – July, TBD
- Meet Package
- Swim BC time standards
** More meets may be added between January and May as the Coach decides on the swimmers what is best to add.
MEETS 101
Meets are an important part of a competitive swimmers’ career, but you don’t have to be competitive to have fun at meets. Kids will likely not remember how many gold medals they won or best times they accomplished, but they will remember the fun of travelling to a new place, spending time on the deck with their friends, chatting, games, dinners out and hanging out at the hotel together.
Swimming is an individual sport, so the focus is on getting faster at their own pace and at their own schedule. Research has shown that being the fastest swimmer at age 10 doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the fastest at age 16. As a beginner swimmer, the focus of meets should not be what place you made but did you improve? Improvement is measured by going to meets and achieving best times.
Meets are never mandatory.
Here is some basics about swim meets.
Club Meets
KSC tries to find meets with no time standards that all swimmers in the club can go to together. These are called club meets. They are open to all levels of swimmers, allowing our entire team to compete, travel and hang out together. This also lets families who have different level of swimmers go to the same meet and save money!! We try to find a couple of these meets a year (one in the fall and one in the spring). They are a great team building experience too!
Meets vs Jamborees
Jamborees are meets but are generally shorter for new swimmers. These usually occur in the Okanagan and are a great introduction to meets for swimmers who do not meet time standards imposed by other meets (see below). They are usually 1 afternoon so they are nice and short. Swimmers can compete in a range of events from 25 metre races (1 length of the pool) up to 200 meters (8 lengths). These meets are recommended for our Mini-Bugaboos and Bugaboo swimmers. They are usually unsanctioned so swimmers can go to as many jamborees as they want. (see below about sanctioned meets)
Time Standards Meets
Some meets have a minimum time standard that swimmers must meet prior to registering into the meet. The most prominent of these time standards are the SwimBC Provincial Time Standards also known as Age Group Championships and BC Championship times. These are found on the SwimBC site here. Swimming Canada sets the times standards for the Canadian Junior Championships, Western Canadian Championships and Nationals meets. As your swimmer progresses these time standards will become goals that they focus on to compete at higher levels. Championship time standards become faster as your swimmer gets older, so the goal is constantly changing as the swimmer “Ages up” every 2nd year into a new age category.
Some clubs have a time standard for their regular meets. The most common time standard is a Sub-4 minute 200 m Individual Medley. This means the swimmers must complete all 4 strokes for 8 lengths in under 4 minutes. This often takes a swimmer a couple of years to achieve and is an accomplishment the swimmer should be very proud of!
Sanctioned Meet vs Unsanctioned Meet
A sanctioned meet means that the times that swimmers achieve are registered with Swimming Canada. If your swimmer is vying to go to a Provincial or National level meet these are important to go to. For those who are doing meets just for fun, the jamboree circuit may be the best route to go. Sanctioned meets with “registered times” require a greater level of insurance with SwimBC with a higher registration fee. The non-competitive SwimBC fee of $47 does allow the swimmer 1 sanctioned meet per season. The competitive swimmer will pay a higher annual fee based on their age.
On an important note, BCSSA swimmers can be non-competitive or competitive with SwimBC without losing their “S” status. BCSSA only asks you to monitor the amount of training you do through their off season. The formula they use is that 1 day at a meet = 1 hour of training. Therefore, if you plan to go to a meet, you may not be able to train the next week in the pool.
Long Course vs Short Course Season
SwimBC and SwimCanada break up the swim year into 2 parts, each culminating in a provincial championship. The first is the Short Course season where meets are raced in 25-meter pools. This runs from September to February ending with Short Course Provincial Championships in early March. The long course season is raced in 50 meter pools from March to July, culminating in both the Canadian and World Championships in August. As the 50-meter pool is the Olympic standard, we highly recommend experiencing a long course meet for those swimmers who are ready for 100 meters to 200 meter races.
Meet Fees
This year we have implemented new meets fees.
1 day meet = $50
2 day meet = $100
3 day meet = $150
The meet fees cover the following costs
• Meet fees /race
• General fees that the host club charges (generally flat fee/swimmer)
• Coaches per diem for food
• Coaches hotel & travel costs
There is a lot more information on how the club deals with meets and meet travel in our club manual found here.
Kootenay Swim Club Manual 2020
Meet Selection
The meets that KSC chooses to attend as a team through the year are decided by the Coach, the parents, and the Board. There are a number of factors in the decision and all input is welcom. KSC attends about 1 meet per month from November through June. Historically these have been mostly in the Okanagan, Kamloops and the East Kootenays, but we have also gone to Vancouver, Victoria and Lethbridge in the last few years.
Questions?
Please ask one of the more experienced KSC parents to explain how and why we choose certain meets, which kids can go, how time standards work etc. There are no dumb questions!
