Competitions
At some point you might want to step into competitions with Lucton Typhoon Swimming Club. It is completely fine to a be a little nervous about what to expect, below you will find information which applies to all of our swimming competitions.
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To see which pools we have recently been competing at please see our Competition Pools Page. If you need some background information on competition and how they work please see our Background on Competitions page.
For more information on what to expect at competitions with LTSC, have a read of the below.
What to pack
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Swimming kit (please bring a spare swim suit, goggles and a hat just in case anything breaks on the day). We will have spare hats with us just in case.
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A spare towel.
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T-shirt and shorts for the poolside – nothing branded or offensive.
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If you have club t-shirts / hoodies please wear them. Please do make sure they are labelled, so that lost items can come back to you.
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It can get cold poolside once you have swum so bring a jumper or something warm just in case. A dry robe is good too for the winter months.
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Dry clean clothes to go home in.
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Bring some flip flops / sliders for poolside.
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Bring a book, headphones, card games, travel games etc. Please don’t bring game consoles poolside as fast reaction games reduce adrenaline and performance and they may get wet.
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If swimmers would like to bring mobile phones they must be responsible for them and it is strictly forbidden to take them into the changing rooms. Either leave your phone with the poolside team whilst you get changed or leave them with a parent. Phones poolside are just to be used for communications or listening to music, swimmers will be asked to put them away once swimming heats begin.
What food / drinks to bring
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Bring plenty to drink (nothing fizzy). We would suggest water and maybe a drink with electrolytes in as you can get dehydrated if you are by the pool all day.
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Snacks – try and limit sweets, crisps and chocolate! We’d suggest good alternatives are cereal bars, veggie sticks with hummas, sliced ham/meats, boiled eggs, fruit and jelly etc
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Bring a variety, sometimes we don't get a lunch period but short breaks so grazing is the way forward!
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Lots more information on this on our Nutrition page.
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Who will go?
At competition events the club is required to send along with the swimmers a coach and usually a team manager. The exact numbers of coaches and team managers is all dependent on how many swimmers are in attendance.
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All our coaches and team managers have an enhanced DBS to work with children, and are required to complete a Swim England Team Manager and Safeguarding course.
The swimmers will sit poolside with the coach and team during the day. During breaks and lunch periods swimmers are able to go and sit with their parents/guardians as long they let the team managers know where they are going and come back in time for their next events or the warm-up.
What happens on the day
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Each event has an advertised warm-up start time, we ask swimmers to arrive 30 minutes before the warm-up start time.
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When you arrive, head straight through to poolside where the coach and team managers will be waiting for you. Spectators usually queue up outside, please send your swimmer through.
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Swimmers are to take their bags with them poolside.
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Swimmers will sit with their team during the meet.
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Wet swimmers are not allowed in the spectator areas. Please make sure you have dried off and put clothes/shoes on before entering this area.
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Once inside and changed into their kit, swimmers should get ready (hats, goggles etc) to go down and do the warm-up.
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The warm-up is just an opportunity to swim in a lane with your club team mates to get used to the pool, practice a turn, practice a dive etc and warm-up your muscles. Your coach will lead the warm-up and tell you what you need to do. Warm-up sessions are normally split between girls/boys and sometime age groups - they typically last 15 minutes.
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Once you're back poolside, get as dry as possible and keep warm - don't sit getting cold.
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The event schedule is published normally the morning of the event and the coach and team managers make sure they know which events our swimmers are in.
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The coach and the team managers will making sure swimmers are in the right places at the right time, swimmers will be reminded not to wander off just in case they miss a race.
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If swimmers are leaving the poolside with parents/guardians please let us know so we know where they are. Via WhatsApp is fine.
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Once swimmers have completed their last event they are free to leave - again please let us know.
Communications
For each of our swim meets we setup a WhatsApp group, parents are encourage to join the group via the joining link.
It's a good source of information sharing prior to the event and we can also share news, results and updates during the day.
Formal communication around the swim meets will also be sent via email.
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If you are going to be late on the day, please send us a message, via the WhatsApp group is best - but a text message to the team manager is also fine.
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For each meet we will send custom notifications about the arrival and start times, along with anything else - be sure to keep an eye out for those.
The Rules
It takes time and lots of practice to master the technical aspects of competitive swimming. Swimmers will naturally, over time and by practicing, increase their knowledge and improve their technical swimming skills.
During a meet officials and judges monitor the events to ensure that swimmers starts, strokes, turns and finishes are done in accordance with rules.
ALL swimmers will at some time experience the disappointment of being disqualified in an event. Whilst we practice and use all our training sessions to harness all those skills to get us through official meets like this, disqualifications happen to everyone and they are nothing to be disheartened about. If a disqualification happens, swimmers just need to know they did the very best they could and they will work on those elements the next time. And if they want to chat to the Head Coach about any of the elements, they are always available! The most important thing to remember is that the best learning opportunities come from making mistakes!
If you want to know more about the rules that we're required to follow you can check out this document.